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Council buying power helps save the planet and boosts local communities
Source: Peterborough City Council
The buying power of local authorities can help save the planet while giving a boost to local communities, delegates to a sustainable procurement conference being hosted by Peterborough City Council will be told on Monday 15 October.
The city council will present one of 10 case studies that will demonstrate the environmental and financial benefits of modern buying policies during the conference that will be attended by representatives from national and local government organisations.
Delegates will be welcomed to the day-long conference at the Key Theatre by city council chief executive Gillian Beasley. She said: Nationally the public sector spends £150 billion on buying goods and services from external suppliers and English councils represent £42 billion of that total.
Local authorities can therefore use their buying power to influence the manufacture and performance of these products, leading to social, economic and environmental benefits.
Hosting this conference builds on Peterboroughs status as an Environment City and a sustainable transport demonstration town.
The conference will primarily focus on the sustainable procurement successes being achieved by local authorities in the East of England with other examples being showcased by Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Thurrock, Luton, Bedfordshire and Southend.
Peterborough will highlight three projects:
The adoption of software that can automatically update and switch off the councils 2,500 computers at night, saving an estimated £50,000 and 250 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually through reduced electricity usage.
Replacement of desktop printers, fax machines and photocopiers with multi-functional devices that automatically print on both sides of paper and offer better cost controls; an estimated 25 per cent saving on paper usage; and a reduction in energy consumption.
The Electrical Appliance Recycling Programme EARP, which repairs electrical goods for re-sale to needy families or recycles re-usable components while also providing useful work-related training for people seeking employment.
The city councils procurement project director Adam Jacobs added: Sustainable procurement has the potential to offer wider social, economic and environmental benefits. It is a hot topic, given the governments ambition for the UK to be a European Union leader in this sector by 2009.
An independent, business-led Sustainable Procurement Task Force published its first report in June 2006 and the government published its own action plan in March 2007. A local authority action plan is also expected shortly.
The Peterborough conference is being supported by the North East Centre of Excellence, which takes the lead on sustainable procurement for all nine local government regional centres of excellence in England.
Delegates include representatives from local authorities in the East of England, Government Office for the East of England GO-East, the East of England Development Agency, the Audit Commission, Envirowise which delivers government-funded advice to UK businesses and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Defra.