Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Purchases made by Council go sustainable!

Last month more than 100 staff attended Council’s Sustainable Purchasing Briefing Sessions. Staff from Financial Services and the Sustainability Unit undertook seven staff briefing sessions on the recently adopted Sustainable Purchasing Supply Policy. All staff where invited to attend to find out more about the policy, how to implement it and what sort of things they need to consider before making a purchase on behalf of Council.

The objectives of Council’s Sustainable Purchasing Supply Policy are to:

  • Demonstrate to the community that Council’s purchasing decisions can improve markets for environmentally preferred products, enhance environmental quality; be resource responsible and contribute to progress toward sustainability,

  • Purchase environmentally preferred products whenever they perform satisfactorily and are available at a reasonable price,

  • Reduce impacts on the environment and human health through changing purchasing behaviour,

  • Eliminate unnecessary purchasing,

  • Make purchasing decisions in line with the waste hierarchy to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle, and

  • Improve the environment and contribute to progress towards sustainability

With this in mind all employees are now endeavouring to purchase goods and services with the most beneficial environmental impact and are considering the content of the product/service, products that are reusable and /or recyclable, and the environmental performance of goods, service and of the supplier.

To showcase some of the sustainable products available we also had Complete Office Supplies and the LGSAs Sustainable Choice Program there as well, demonstrating the wide variety of green products that are becoming more and more widely available.

To find out about some of the sustainable purchases Council is making click here.

Tuesday, 6 May 2008

Latest Sustainable Times Out Now

The latest edition of Penrith City Council's Sustainable Times newsletter is out now. The Sustainable Times is a newsletter aimed at local schools, and provides information on activities, projects and upcoming initiatives that might be of interest to schools and school children.


To download your copy simply click here. If you would like to be added to our mailing list send Krystie Race an email, stating your preference for an electronic or hard copy.

The Term 2 edition for 2008 is packed with useful information, including stories on:

- Schools come Clean
- Waste Wise Initiatives for Schools
- Walk Safely to School Day
- Every Drop Counts in Schools program.
- Children to run Council meeting
- Science in the Suburbs
- Next SPenSEN meeting