City of Greater Shepparton

City of Greater Shepparton

URL: http://www.greatershepparton.com.au/council/environment/greenhousemanagement/ecobuy.html

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Ecobuy

The Council adopted a Sustainable Purchasing Policy at its meeting on Tuesday 7 April 2009. This policy replaces the ECOBuy Purchasing Policy previously adopted by Council in 2003. The Sustainable Purchasing Policy is designed to advance the sustainable use of resources within the Council's operations. The formation and adoption of this policy is part of an agreement the Council signed in 2002 with EcoBuy. The Greater Shepparton City Council joins 55 other Councils across Victoria as EcoBuy Members, 70 per cent of whom have also adopted a purchasing policy.

ECO-Buy members spent $62.4 million on green products in 2006/07. ECOBuy aims to use the combined purchasing power of local government to stimulate demand for greenhouse friendly and recycled products.

For example, Victorian Councils spent $15.3 million on recycled products, representing 1.9% of the total amount Victorian Councils spent on materials and contracts. This combined spending power can be used to increase the market opportunity for environmentally beneficial products and help bring prices down.

By adopting the Sustainable Purchasing Policy, Council aims to:

· eliminate unnecessary purchasing

· improve the environment

· reduce its impact on the environment

· reduce its impact on human health

· contribute to progress towards sustainability.

This policy provides purchasing guidelines aiming to purchase products, where practicable, that achieve:

· Minimum unnecessary purchasing

· Minimum Waste

· Minimum Greenhouse Gas Emissions

· Minimum Habitat Destruction

· Minimum toxicity

· Maximum Water Efficiency

· Minimum Soil Degradation

The policy details a 10 per cent price preference to products that are considered environmentally preferred beneficial. There are a wide range of environmentally preferred beneficial products including: office supplies, road and footpath construction supplies, cleaning supplies, white goods, gardening products, outdoor furniture, IT equipment, cars, indoor and outdoor furniture, toilet tissue, waste management products, playgground playground equipment, signage, traffic management, and the list goes on.

Examples of environmentally preferred beneficial products we already use include:

· All the dog beds at the recently completed pound were made from recycled plastic

· Council re-uses all tree prunings as mulch in it's own projects

· All the Council's parking meters use Green Cell Batteries which contain no lead, acids or other toxic materials.

· Council uses paper with 80 per cent recycled content.

A copy of the policy can be downloaded from the link below.