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Working with suppliers to help them improve their sustainability performance can be necessary in a situation where there may be few suppliers with the necessary understanding of the demands of sustainability. The establishment of a longer term relationship may also lead to a higher quality of product being supplied at a more competitive price. It is therefore not surprising that several businesses now work with their regular suppliers to reduce the environmental and social impacts of the products and services being acquired. Clearly, the extent to which improvements can be achieved will depend on the influence (largely purchasing power) of the buyer and the willingness of the supplier to introduce new ways of working. The processes used to support these improvements include the setting and monitoring of appropriate targets, and the encouragement of suppliers to put in place appropriate auditing (eg EMAS) or overall reporting processes.
Examples of organisations’ practices to achieve this are given here.
A wide range of different performance improvement targets might be set; for example, the reduction in amount of materials used, the inclusion of more recycled elements, or the improvement of working conditions
The move towards improving environmental and social performance can be associated with re-design of products and processes. The Market Transformation Programme is a DEFRA programme aimed to develop policy strategy for advancing the resource efficiency of traded goods and services in the UK-see http://www.mtprog.com/ . Richard Jardine in his presentation to the Cannybuyer seminar indicated how Allied Distillers worked with suppliers to get improved performance and reduce materials use [see Adobe PDF file]
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