‎Jonathan is an Independent Environment & Sustainability Advisor, Associate at Coduco

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Sustainable
purchase policy
14th April 2016
Jonathan Martens
Give support to companies and authorities that want to switch to a more
sustainable approach in their organization and/or internal consumption or for the
products and services that they offers, e.g.:
- Audit & support the purchase dept.
- Guidance on the workplace
- Education and awareness of staff and public
- Advice and audit on behavioral changes
- Internal & external communication
- Elaborate procurements specs
… in various files around food, materials, energy & waste & procurement.
More info www.coduco.be

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Why a sustainable event?
“Any gathering of people can have an impact and influence participants”
By making it more sustainable you can :
• reduce the environmental impact
• inspire participants to live more sustainable
Two keys to a success :
• Good management (organization, action plan, purchasing,…) and
• Communication with your stakeholders (suppliers, speakers,
participants, …)
Sustainable purchasing
• You’ll need goods and services, so integrate sustainable criteria in your
purchasing activities
• Sustainable purchasing can
* Reduce your negative impact on the environment
* Encourage social improvement
* And finally give financial savings
Next slides:
- Important topics linked to an event
- The right questions to ask
- Possible criteria
- Some first tips

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Selecting destination & venue
“If you can choose, remember that travelling is the main source of emissions”
1° Management
• Any certification of the building?
• Any policy or action plan in place?
• Any information to staff of participants?
2°Assessibility and social inclusion
• Full accessibility for all?
3° Services
• How does the cleaning proceed?
• Virtual meetings possible?
4°Enery water & waste
• Can temperature be regulated? Can daylight be used?
• Besides waste separation, what do you do?
• How is the guest involved to reduce?
5°Catering ( see further)
Possible criteria & tips
• Use existing certifications:
 Green key, best green hotel, …
 Building & management Bream, Leed, EMAS, ISO, …. BUT! …
• Use sustainable checklist to go into the details
 Sustainable procurement policy
 Access for wheelchairs
 Technology for deaf people
 Environmental cleaning tutorial for the staff
 Transport access map
• Tips
 If no hot features, involve your participants
 Reproduce communication tools of the supplier
 Tell your participants why you chose the venue

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Communication and event material
“Communication can reduce the impact and increase awareness before
even the event starts”
1°Communication with participants and registration
• What is provided to the participants to ensure ‘sustainable
behavior’?
• What is your knowledge about the participants?
2°Materials for the participants
• What has to be printed? How about last minutes?
• Which media will you use to communicate?
• Are the gifts useful and where do they come from?
• How to communicate during the event with the
participants and on the floor?
Possible criteria & tips
1. Material for the event
If paper is used:
• % recycled and consumer waste
• Certifications like Blaue Angel, ….
• Incentives to keep their material ‘until the end’
• Print on demand
2. If you ‘really’ need goodies:
Criteria: local production, recycled materials, correct end-of-life
Use: useful, can be reused or used during the event
Food: see catering conditions
! Think generic: no date or specific title

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Possible criteria & tips
“The savings you make here, could be used to make other aspects more
sustainable”
Tips
• Think about everything: e.g. registration, information, materials,
program, set-up, …
• Know that participant prefer travel light
• Assume reality, printing could be still necessary
• “Need it?” before “give it!”
• “Paper-less” or “paper-free”? go for paper-smart
Catering
“Catering offers many opportunities to minimize the impacts and can
involve local community”
1° Management & set up
• Is the company local? How is the food transported?
• How do they ensure easy access to all guests?
2° Food & Beverage
• When setting the menu, any cultural or religious considerations be
respected?
• How are the food & drinks presented?
• What about leftovers?
3°Materials & packaging
• Disposable items used during catering?
• What with the empty packaging?
4°Waste disposal

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Possible criteria & tips
Food & drinks:
• Work with checklist
 Option for tap water or bulk dispensers
 Seasonal and regional? ask for origin
 organic or/and Fairtrade? ask for certifications
 Know that other labels (MSC, halal, …) exist but be careful
 All drinks served in reusable bottles
Management:
• Present only what necessary (flexible)
• Agree on quantities until the plate
Waste disposal:
• All waste should be collected separately
Possible criteria & tips
Tips
• Keep it measurable : asking 25% organic isn’t enough, go for
100% for a product if only possible
• Agree on food portions & the size of the dishes
• ‘‘It’s not only the food’’ aspect, think ‘behavior’
• Don’t ask all criteria at once
• If disposable items are used go for ‘take back’
• ….

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‘What have I forgotten....’
Much more other topics, but depends on the purpose of your event …
• Exhibition & material during the event
• Behavior of your staff
• Choice of the speakers
• Local transport during the event
• Communication & engagement towards your stakeholders
• Compensation tools
• …
Practical tips for tendering
- Use existing standards if they exist
- Work with checklist according to your participants’ needs
- Consider the entire period of the event (preparation, event,
breakdown)
- Adapt your requirements to the circumstances
=> Local non-organic or Non-local organic
=> Pape-less free vs. Paper-smart
- Introduce evaluation tools
=> to measure the impacts
=> benchmark suppliers
- Don’t hesitate do attract experts (like us !  )

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Contacts
Rob Renaerts
Director
0488/994488
rob@coduco.be
Jonathan Martens
Associate
0473 99 13 49
jonathan@coduco.be