Wentworth’s Green Purchasing Policy

Explore

1. Scope

Wentworth is committed to environmentally preferable purchasing. Environmentally preferable means "products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose".

Wentworth’s objective is to balance environmental and fiscal responsibilities in making Green Purchasing decisions. This policy applies to the purchase of materials in the following categories:

  • All products eligible for an Energy Star rating, including electronics, appliances, office equipment, etc.
  • All electronic products eligible to meet the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) environmental criteria, including desktop and laptop computers, monitors, etc.

2. Performance Metric

Wentworth will track performance against the goals in Section 3 by employing the following performance metrics:

  • % of applicable annual expenditures, by cost, qualifying as Energy Star
  • % of applicable annual expenditures, by cost, qualifying as EPEAT bronze, silver, etc.

3. Goals

Wentworth has designated the following goals:

  • All eligible products purchased by Wentworth shall meet the US EPA Energy Star certification when available and practicable. When Energy Star labels are not available, products that are in the upper 25 per cent of energy efficiency as designated by the Federal Energy Management Program should be used.
  • All desktop computers, laptops, notebooks, and monitors purchased must meet, at a minimum, all the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) environmental criteria designated as “required” to be registered and rated as Bronze certified in their relevant category whenever possible and practicable.

4. Procedures & Strategies

4.1 Purchasing Procedures

Purchasing agents/credit card holders are responsible for the following procedures:

  • Review Energy Star & EPEAT guidelines & list of applicable materials when making purchasing decisions.
  • Credit card holders are to report applicable purchases to Purchasing Dept. via their statement review.
  • Purchasing will review all purchase order requests prior to placing orders to ensure compliance whenever possible and practicable.

Prior to making any purchase the EPEAT website or the Energy Star website (www.energystar.gov) should be consulted for appropriate ratings.

4.2. Policy Management & Review Procedures

The Procurement Dept will do the following:

  • Inform purchasing agents during purchasing orientation
  • Include policy & guidance in purchasing handbook & orientation materials
  • Track progress monthly via Argos and Paymentnet reports & send reminders to purchasing agents to ensure procedures are being followed
  • Report progress to Sustainability Committee annually using performance metrics defined above.

5. Responsible Parties

This policy applies to the following groups:

Purchasing Dept is responsible for policy oversight and review

Physical Plant, Planning Dept are responsible for the green purchasing of appliances on campus.

Purchasing agents (including Wentworth employees who are credit card holders, and/or third parties purchasing or providing goods to Wentworth, such as contractors, vendors, etc.) are responsible for implementing the policy and reporting progress to Purchasing Dept.

6. Time Period

Policy was adopted on June 1 2010, and will be reviewed on an annual basis.