Green Purchasing

The University of Mary Washington’s Purchasing Department’s role in the university’s sustainability initiative is to provide educational awareness in the context of purchasing planning.  It is important to consider the multiple environmental impacts of each purchase in every stage of its life cycle from the raw materials used in manufacturing to its eventual disposal at the end of its productive life.  The Purchasing Department provides resources and guidelines for best practices to maintain the university’s goals of effective management of resources and recognition of its impact on our planet in balance with traditional purchasing criteria such as price, availability and end-user requirements in conjunction with Commonwealth of Virginia regulations.
To that end, the Purchasing Department would like to offer a few ideas in the interest of assisting departments’ participation in the University’s Green Initiative; and to comply with the Governor’s challenge to state employees in the ‘greening of state government’ (E.O. 82).