Sustainable Purchasing

The manufacture and supply of products often generates hidden environmental, health and social impacts. The materials, manufacture, packaging, transportation and even disposal of a product all form part of a product's lifecycle and sustainability. 

Sustainable purchasing is an effort to buy greener, healthier and more sustainable products that also meet price, performance and quality requirements. This could include buying from local suppliers, choosing products made from recycled materials or opting for goods and services with more sustainable life cycles.

With your spending decisions, you have power to reduce negative environmental and social impacts, and to generate demand for better products.

Make better purchasing choices for your business with these websites:

• Global GreenTag - Home of leading certified and verified sustainable products.
• Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) - this product database will help you choose goods and services that are better for the environment.
• Good On You - this is fashion industry's most trusted source of sustainability ratings, and helps you wear the change you want to see.
• ReMade in Australia - this new sustainability certification will inform you about products made with recycled content.
• Energy rating - Look for products with a high star rating when replacing electrical equipment or whitegoods.
• GreenPower - this service makes it easy to recognise and purchase renewable energy that meets stringent environmental standards.
• Product Stewardship Gateway - this is a detailed directory of existing and emerging product stewardship initiatives, supported by the Australian Government. 
• Green Star Australia and NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) - these two ranking systems provide robust and comparable measurements of sustainability across the building and infrastructure sectors.