Sustainability Action Plan 2022

The district should develop and adopt a sustainable procurement policy and administrative procedure as recommended in the BOG Framework. The district should strive to increase procurement of sustainable products and services by 25% compared to benchmark levels by 2030 and 50% by 2035 to comply with BOG Framework goals. In addition, the district should strive to increase material circularity by 25% and decrease the consumption of materials by 25% by 2035.

Sustainable purchasing of products and materials should include such items as appliance and information technology hardware, cleaning and janitorial supplies, flooring, furniture, lighting, office supplies, water appliances and fixtures, chemicals, packaging, plastic foam, recycled and recyclable materials, green construction materials, and low VOC carpet, paint and finishes. The district should evaluate guidance and best practices for sustainable procurement, such as the University of California Sustainable Procurement Guidelines, to develop the procedure.

Socially responsible purchasing is the acquisition of goods and services that meet the needs of the district and colleges while also being environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and ethically sourced. As an example, Drexel University has developed a Socially Responsible Purchasing Policy that includes the following goals:

• Advocating for the inclusion of qualified diverse suppliers.
• Ensuring that diverse suppliers are considered in requests for proposals.
• Communicating our purchasing plans to local suppliers and organizations.
• Participating in local supplier fairs.
• Requiring top suppliers to report their Tier 2 spend (dollars spent by these partners with diverse suppliers on behalf of Drexel).

The district should evaluate this and other models to develop a socially responsible purchasing policy as recommended by the BOG Framework.