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Managers and purchasing agents can take a number of steps to practice waste prevention.
This list of ideas was approved by professional procurement officers and is intended to
help you jump start your waste prevention efforts and save money too.
Review your existing purchasing policies to assure they do not exclude
buying goods with recycled content or products designed to be reused or recycled. Remove
discriminatory standards that prevent purchasers from buying perfectly acceptable used or
recycled products.
Modify policies to promote procurement of products that:
- Are designed to last long (e.g., have long warranties and available repair services).
- Have interchangeable parts so they are easy to repair.
- Can be easily reused or recycled.
- Are made from recycled materials.
- Do not contain toxic materials.
- Have minimal packaging, if any.
Show your commitment to using resources wisely by stating in bid
packets that your organization expects suppliers to participate in waste prevention and
recycling. Ask vendors to identify products that promote waste prevention and recycling.
Policies That Encourage Waste Prevention
- Perform life cycle cost analysis which include an assessment of a product's maintenance,
energy and water use, and disposal costs.
- Allow a price preference for durable, reusable, repairable, and recycled products. A
price preference is a way to recognize that some virgin materials receive tax breaks and
other subsidies which drive down the prices of products. Consider using cost savings from
waste reduction activities to pay for more expensive, but less wasteful products.
- An alternative to price preferences is to use "set-asides" that require a
certain portion of purchases for a given commodity be satisfied with products meeting
waste reduction standards.
- Consider centralized purchasing through one department or person. It makes it easier to
apply waste reduction purchasing policies.
- Make each department accountable for the supplies they use.
Below are a few ways to reduce waste through purchasing. Think about what will work for
your organization and brainstorm new ideas:
- Re-evaluate items purchased. Are they really necessary? (e.g., some cafeterias have
stopped purchasing straws).
- Purchase refillable or reusable products (e.g., refillable pens and pencils, cloth
towels and rags, mugs, flatware, dishes, air filters).
- Conduct a prepurchase review to consider alternatives to disposable and single-use
products.
- Purchase the lightest, smallest durable product that will complete the task. Bigger is
not necessarily better.
- Practice "just-in-time supply" to avoid over purchasing and spoilage.
- Purchase products that don't need batteries or use solar energy (e.g., manual pencil
sharpeners, solar powered calculators).
- Select nontoxic products. Read labels. Look for products that do not require special
handling, ventilation or have warnings.
- Choose concentrated cleaning solutions in bulk form. These give you more product for
less packaging. Dispense liquid solutions in pump spray bottles rather than aerosol
containers.
- Purchase products without packaging, with less packaging, or reusable packaging. Ask
suppliers not to overpackage orders. (You may have to keep asking over and over!)
- Ask vendors to take back packaging. In some cases they may be able to reuse it.
Alternatively, save and reuse packaging materials. Offer excess packaging materials to
firms that can use them.
- Purchase copiers and printers that make two-sided copies reliably. Maintain machines on
a regular basis to reduce jams.
- Research alternative technologies that can prevent waste (e.g., modem cards, digital
duplicators, folder/sealers).
- Purchase rebuilt or refilled toner cartridges. These generally are much cheaper than new
ones. Check your warranty and contact several vendors because quality varies.
- Negotiate longer, more comprehensive warranties and service contracts for equipment.
Maintain equipment to maximize its life.
- Educate employees about waste prevention through purchasing. Purchasing agents base
orders on employee requests. Employees need to know what to ask for.
- Try to repair, refurbish, or rebuild before buying new (e.g., furniture). Purchase
quality used or remanufactured products instead of new ones.
- Contact the California Materials Exchange
(CALMAX) to advertise or find low cost or free used materials. Categories cover
construction, containers, durables (e.g., furniture, office supplies), electronic, glass,
metal, organic, paint/wax, pallets, paper, plastic, rubber, textile, wood, and
miscellaneous.
For More Help
Publication #500-94-030
To order this publication, or for
more Business Waste Reduction Assistance, please contact us! If you have questions,
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