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Green Solutions

Green Procurement

Buying our way out of the climate crisis

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Choosing products with
good environmental attributes
brings many benefits

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Health care delivery requires the use of a multitude of products, from pharmaceutical products and medical devices, to paper and bed sheets.

 

Choosing products with good environmental attributes brings many benefits. It lowers our impact on the environment by reducing our carbon footprint. It can reduce our patients' and healthcare providers' exposure to harmful chemicals, and more often than not, results in long term cost savings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But when is a product considered green? Here are some attributes that we can examine:

  • Whether it contains harmful chemicals, such as BPA, phthalates, ethylene oxide, glutaraldehyde, etc

  • Contains recycled materials

  • Can be reused, reprocessed, recycled

  • Packaging material

  • Energy and water efficiency

  • Product life cycle assessment, which assesses the impact of the product on the environment from its production to its disposal, such as greenhouse gas emission, water use, land use, etc.

  • Use a standardized questionnaire to objectively assess and compare the environmental attributes of various products during procurement procedures

  • Engage suppliers and request product life cycle assessment reports

  • Organizations can establish sustainable procurement policy, and train procurement staff the sustainable procurement principles

Some practical ideas
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Successful stories

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Standardizing procurement practices

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Kaiser Permanente has published a written policy on environmental preferable purchasing in 2006, and developed a standardized questionnaire (the Sustainability Scorecard) in 2009, to assess environmental attributes of products they wish to purchase.

 

An analysis of procurement and supply operation during 2009-2011 revealed outstanding results.

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Reduced energy use 87 million kWh

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Reduced, reused, recycled 12,000 tons of waste

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Reduced fuel use by 457,000 gallons

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Reduced water use by 118 million gallons

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Reduced consumption of hazardous materials

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Annual savings US$ 63 million

Weighing the total cost of ownership

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The Mayo clinic decided to replace their fleet of 1000 ultracold freezers in the laboratories. After reviewing the 4 freezers available on the market, the most energy-efficient model was purchased instead of the one with the lowest price.

 

Because the chosen freezer has better energy efficiency, the cost of energy usage offsets the initial higher purchase price in 10 years. The total cost of ownership is the lowest for this model.

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Reduced energy use 60%

 

Uses more sustainable refrigerant

No ozone-depleting agents, lower global warming effect

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Savings of more than 6 million over 10 years

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Ideas and challenges

Has my organization established and defined goals for sustainable development? Has the vision been actively and adequately communicated to our staff?

 

Is there a policy of sustainable procurement in place?

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Executive leaders
Doctors

How often do I consider the environmental attributes of products that I wish to buy?

 

Which single-use instruments and devices I am using can be replaced with reusable ones?

 

Can I provide feedback to suppliers and reformulate procedure kits to minimize the number of unused items in a kit?

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Procurement managers
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How many procurement staff had training in sustainable procurement?

 

Are contracts awarded based on most economically advantageous tender criteria, or on whole life costing criteria?

 

How often are sustainability criteria or environmental attributes considered? Is there a standardized questionnaire to facilitate objective comparison of various products? Can reports on product life cycle assessment be obtained?

 

Are achievements in sustainable procurement publicized and rewarded?

 

How can we engage our suppliers and relay our sustainable goals?

Nurses

How often do I consider the environmental attributes of products that I wish to buy?

 

How can I minimize the use of single-use plastics in my workplace?

 

Can I purchase greener cleaners and disinfectants, to reduce our staff's and patients' exposure to harmful chemicals?

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Facilities managers

How often do I consider the environmental attributes of products that I wish to buy? Specifically their energy efficiency and water conservation properties?

 

Can I purchase greener electronic devices, with end-of-life disposition included in the purchasing contract?

 

Can I purchase greener cleaners and disinfectants, to reduce our staff's and patients' exposure to harmful chemicals?

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