Create a Sustainable Purchasing Guide for Your Department
Sustainable purchasing decisions are often made one order at a time. A short, department-specific purchasing guide can help employees make more consistent choices without creating a complicated new policy or approval process.
Your guide does not need to cover every possible purchase. Start with the items your department buys most often and identify a few practical ways to reduce waste, choose safer materials, and make better use of existing resources.
Why create your own guide?
University departments have different needs, budgets, vendors, and purchasing patterns. A guide created around your department’s actual purchases can help staff:
- Remember sustainability considerations during routine purchases
- Reduce unnecessary or duplicate orders
- Choose more durable and lower-impact products
- Use existing supplies before buying more
- Reduce packaging, paper, food waste, and disposable items
- Share expectations with vendors and event planners
- Make sustainable purchasing easier for new employees
The goal is not to make every purchase perfect. The goal is to make sustainability a regular part of the decision-making process.
Start with a few guiding questions
Before making a purchase, ask:
- Is this item necessary?
- Do we already have something that could be used?
- Could we buy fewer items or use less material?
- Is there a reusable, repairable, refillable, or more durable option?
- Are products with recycled content or credible environmental certifications available?
- What packaging will come with the purchase?
- What will happen to the item at the end of its useful life?
- Could we borrow, share, rent, or purchase secondhand instead?
- Is a local or campus vendor available?
- Does the lowest upfront price provide the best long-term value?
Build your guide around what you actually buy
Review recent purchases, talk with employees who place orders, and identify the categories that come up most frequently.
Possible categories include:
- Catering and events
- Office supplies
- Cleaning products
- Printing and marketing materials
- Technology and electronics
- Furniture
- Promotional products and swag
- Laboratory or specialized supplies
- Maintenance products
- Clothing or uniforms
You do not need to address every category. A short guide covering four or five frequent purchases is more useful than a long document that employees will not read.
Identify practical purchasing approaches
For each category, list the common items your department buys and a few realistic actions employees can take.
Catering and events
Consider guidance such as:
- Confirm attendance before finalizing food quantities
- Use attendance from past events to estimate orders
- Request reusable dishes and serviceware when available
- Provide compost and recycling options
- Plan in advance for leftover food
- Reduce individually wrapped products
- Include plant-forward food choices
- Ask caterers about local and seasonal options
Cleaning products
Consider guidance such as:
- Avoid unnecessary or duplicate cleaners
- Select concentrated products when appropriate
- Look for EPA Safer Choice, Green Seal, UL ECOLOGO, or other relevant certifications
- Choose recycled-content paper products
- Avoid unnecessary antimicrobial products
- Select refillable containers and reusable applicators
- Follow UM’s Green Cleaning Products Policy
Technology
Consider guidance such as:
- Consult with IT before purchasing equipment
- Choose ENERGY STAR-certified products when available
- Repair or upgrade existing equipment before replacing it
- Select equipment appropriate for the expected level of use
- Consider warranty length and repair support
- Follow university procedures for electronics reuse and disposal
Printing and marketing
Consider guidance such as:
- Provide information online when possible
- Use QR codes that lead directly to useful webpages
- Print only the quantity needed
- Avoid including dates when materials could be reused
- Choose recycled-content paper
- Ask vendors about lower-impact paper and printing options
- Use double-sided printing when appropriate
Swag and promotional products
Consider guidance such as:
- Use existing supplies before ordering more
- Avoid ordering an assortment of inexpensive items
- Offer experiences, services, food, or one larger prize instead
- Choose durable items that people will actually use
- Avoid event-specific dates and temporary messaging
- Share orders with other departments when possible
- Consider whether no swag may be the best option
Keep the guide specific and realistic
A useful purchasing guide should reflect your department’s budget and operations. Avoid broad statements such as “always buy the most sustainable product” without explaining what that means in practice.
Instead, use clear directions such as:
- “Check current office supplies before placing a new order.”
- “Request reusable serviceware for events held in the ballroom.”
- “Choose recycled-content printer paper when available.”
- “Confirm the final RSVP count three days before ordering food.”
- “Consult with IT before replacing monitors or laptops.”
Specific guidance is easier to remember and apply.
A simple template
Departments can use the following format:
Department purpose statement
Briefly explain why sustainable purchasing matters to your department.
Example:
Our department aims to consider sustainability in its daily operations. When making purchases, employees should consider whether an item is necessary, whether existing resources can be used, and whether a more durable or lower-impact option is available.
Purchasing category
Identify a common area of spending.
Frequent purchases
List the products or services employees commonly purchase in that category.
Preferred approaches
Provide three to six specific practices employees should follow or consider.
Department contacts
Identify who employees should contact with purchasing, sustainability, technology, catering, or facilities questions.
Put the guide into practice
Once your guide is drafted:
- Ask employees who regularly make purchases to review it
- Make sure the recommendations are realistic
- Add the guide to your department’s shared files or internal webpage
- Include it in onboarding materials
- Review it before recurring events and large purchases
- Update it as vendors, products, policies, and department needs change
A purchasing guide is most useful when employees know where to find it and are reminded to use it.
Begin with progress, not perfection
Your department does not need to solve every procurement issue at once. Begin with the purchases you make most often, choose a few achievable practices, and improve the guide over time.
Small changes in routine purchasing decisions can reduce waste, save money, support safer products, and help UM use its resources more responsibly.