Implementation of a purchasing policy enables environmental quality which promotes fair trade for the products purchased and prefers products bearing an eco-label issued by independent and reliable organizations. However eco-labels are not always sufficient to identify environmentally friendly products thus the importance to work with suppliers that encourage social and environmental practices and to motivate them to offer new products.
So,
- Regularly monitor the appearance of new Eco products.
- Do not hesitate to request product samples, test and compare them to your products.
- Continuously collect and file information on innovative products that you or a colleague have tested (or professional literatures recommend) as well as interesting and potential ones.
- Purchase products that best match your needs and maintain a list of actions that you have taken to continuously improve your purchasing policy. However, to choose products made far or even abroad uniquely because they have an eco-label is not always an appropriate action, because the pollution linked to transportation often cancels manufacturing sustainable efforts while the same goods are produced and available in your area.
When purchasing, you can:
- Prefer buying wholesale.
- Avoid packages and individual portions and replace them with free packaging products, as in bulk.
- Focus on fresh products, avoid food preservation additives.
- Avoid prepared products (kitchen assembled) which requires greater energy consumption throughout their life cycle and generates lots of packaging.
- Buy bio-agriculture products to encourage agricultural techniques more respectful of the environment.
- Promote local purchasing.
Environmental benefits
- Reduction of transport related greenhouse gases emissions when buying locally
- Waste reduction when buying products packaged in bulk, rather than individually