Purchasing is an important aspect of environmental management because of the life-cycle impacts of goods and services we choose. This covers aspects such as material sourcing, manufacture, transport, end of life use, and final disposal. 

The Bloomsbury Colleges shared Environmental Policy commits the colleges to “adopt sustainable purchasing and the use of environmentally sound goods and services”.

To this end, the sustainability team works closely with schools, faculties and departments across the three institutions to:

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• Promote sustainable purchasing practices and the development of a sustainable procurement policy

• Promote the use of the internal reuse-scheme platforms (i.e. noticeboards, intranet) to staff to help them reuse and redistribute resources

• Provide guidance on specific products and service areas

• Engage with the colleges' Sustainability Groups to promote sustainable purchasing options in their departments

• Engage with suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of our supply chain (i.e. by reducing the number of deliveries)

• Enhance local supply of food and Fairtrade products

 

Additionally, the sustainability team fosters sustainable procurement across the HE sector through the collaboration with other institutions for the provision of improved services that are responsible towards the environment.