The Environment and Browns Purchasing Policy and Practices:

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The Environment and Browns Purchasing Policy and
Practices

• Can environmentally preferable purchasing work at
  Brown?

Environmental Studies Senior Thesis Allison
Watkins Spring 2005
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Presentation Outline

• The Issue Managing Consumption
• Research Questions
• Why Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
• Purchasing at Brown
• Hypotheses
• Methodology
• Findings
• Conclusions and Recommendations

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I. The Issue Managing Consumption
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I. The Issue Managing Consumption

• The problem
• Ensuring resources fulfill global needs
• Limiting wastes

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I. The Issue Managing Consumption

• The US (4.5 of global population) uses 62 of
  global oil reserves largest oil consumer
• 4 billion under-consumers and 1 billion
  over-consumers
• If the Chinese resident consumed as much oil as
  US resident, China would need 90 million
  barrels/day
• 11 more than the world produced/day in 2001

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I. The Issue Managing Consumption

• Goal
• Lower overall level of consumption in developed
  nations
• Minimize environmental impact of consumption

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I. The Issue Managing Consumption

• Greening Institutional Purchasing
• Institutions command a large amount of purchasing
  dollars
• Colleges and universities spend over 300
  billion/yr on products and services
• Institutions can promote new norms and attitudes

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I. The Issue Managing Consumption

• What is Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
  (EPP)?
• The selection of products and services that have
  a lesser impact on human health and the
  environment than their competitors

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II. Research Questions

• To what extent does Brown consider the
  environment in its purchasing practices?
• Are there opportunities to implement a more
  environmentally friendly purchasing policy?

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III. Why Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
(EPP)?
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III. Why Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
(EPP)?

• How does EPP work in practice?
• EPAs Guiding Principles (1995)
• Environment Price Performance EPP
• Pollution Prevention
• Life Cycle Perspective/Multiple Attributes
• Comparison of Environmental Impacts
• Environmental Performance Information

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III. Why Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
(EPP)?

• Who uses it?
• Government Agencies
• Other members of the Ivy League Purchasing Group

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IV. Purchasing at Brown
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IV. Purchasing at Brown

• How purchasing at Brown works
• Purchasing Dept oversees campus purchasing
• Negotiates contracts
• Reviews purchases 3,000
• Cannot mandate purchase requirements
• Departments act individually on transactions
  
• 70 campus transactions
• 6 of total spend
• No formal environmental policy
• Environmental friendliness a bonus in competing
  products
• Promote recycled products at vendor fairs
• Forthcoming recycled office product catalogue

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VI. Hypotheses
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VI. Hypotheses

• Purchases of recycled products have been
  increasing
• Recycled products have become more
  price-competitive
• Vendor fairs are an effective method of promoting
  recycled paper and toner
• Perceptions of price and quality of recycled
  products are affecting purchasing behavior
• There exist opportunities to introduce EPP at
  Brown

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V. Methodology
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V. Methodology

• Purchasing structure
• Interviews with Purchasing Department and
  Boise/Office Max rep
• Attendance at vendor fair
• Purchasing trends
• Boise/Office Max purchasing reports
• Department Purchasing Motivations
• Survey of dept administrative managers

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V. Methodology

• Survey Excerpts

Do you ever purchase the following products
through Boise/Office Max? If yes, how often?
Do you know that you can purchase the following
products through Boise/Office Max?
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VII. Findings
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VII. Findings

• 1. Have sales of recycled products been
  increasing?
• Yes
• 2. Have recycled products become more
  price-competitive?
• No
• 3. Are perceptions of price and quality affecting
  sales?
• Price No
• Quality
• Paper No
• Toner Yes
• 4. Are vendor fairs effectively promoting
  recycled products?
• No

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VII. Findings

• 1. Have sales of recycled products been
  increasing?
• a. Paper
• b. Toner

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1a. Have sales of recycled paper been increasing?
of purchases that are recycled
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1b. Have sales of recycled toner been increasing?
of purchases that are recycled
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VII. Findings

• 2. Have recycled products become more
  price-competitive?
• a. Paper
• b. Toner

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• 2a. Has recycled paper become more price
  competitive?

difference in price
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2b. Has recycled toner become more
price-competitive?
difference in price
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VII. Conclusions and Recommendations

• 3. Are perceptions of price and quality affecting
  sales?
• a. Do people perceive recycled paper and toner to
  be more expensive than regular?
• b. Do people perceive recycled paper and toner to
  be of inferior quality than regular?
• c. If so, are these perceptions affecting
  purchasing behavior?

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3a. Do people perceive recycled paper to be more
expensive than non-recycled?
Respondents
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3a. Do people perceive recycled toner to be more
expensive than non-recycled?
Respondents
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3b. Do people perceive recycled paper to be
inferior in quality to non-recycled?
Respondents
Recycled Lower Quality
Recycled ? Lower Quality
No Opinion
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3b. Do people perceive recycled toner to be in
inferior quality to non-recycled?
Respondents
Recycled Lower Quality
Recycled ? Lower Quality
No Opinion
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3c. Are perceptions of quality affecting
purchasing?
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VII. Findings

• 4. Are vendor fairs effectively promoting
  recycled products?
• Attendance Increased knowledge Increasing
  purchases

a. Is attendance correlated with knowledge? b. Is
knowledge correlated with purchases?
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VII. Findings
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4a. Is fair attendance is correlated with
knowledge of recycled paper?
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4a. Is fair attendance correlated with knowledge
of recycled toner?
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4b. Is knowledge correlated with the purchase of
recycled paper?
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4b. Is knowledge correlated with the purchase of
recycled toner?
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Fair attendance is not a significant predictor of
purchase of recycled paper or toner.
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VII. Findings

• 1. Have sales of recycled products been
  increasing?
• Yes
• 2. Have recycled products become more
  price-competitive?
• No
• 3. Are perceptions of price and quality affecting
  sales?
• Price No
• Quality
• Paper No
• Toner Yes
• 4. Are vendor fairs effectively promoting
  recycled products?
• No

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• VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations

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VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations

• To what extent does Brown consider the
  environment in its purchasing practices?
• Purchasing Dept unwritten policy and
  encouragement of recycled products
• Individual purchasers Attitudes toward
  ecologically conscious living perception of
  toner quality
• Are there opportunities to implement a more
  environmentally friendly purchasing policy?
• Empirical study opportunity for policy
  implementation
• Survey avenues for implementation of aspects of
  EPP

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VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations

• Conclusions
• There exists interest in elements of EPP
• This interest could be more effective if a
  cohesive EPP initiative were undertaken

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VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations

• Audiences
• Purchasing Department
• Boise/Office Max
• Departments
• Human Resources Training and Development

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VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations

• Preliminary Recommendations
• Formalize the unofficial environmental policy
• Specific contract language
• Improve method of providing information
• Seminars focus on attitude toward
  environmentally conscious living quality of
  recycled toner
• Collaboration with HR Training and Development
• Better management of online purchasing tool
• Collaborate with campus groups

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VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations

• Future research
• Explore diffusion networks
• Examine other products

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Thank you

• Caroline Karp
• Phil Brown and Ken Carlson
• Mary Willis, Brown Purchasing Department
• Marie Cordeiro, Boise/Office Max
• Jennifer Lawless
• Patti Caton and Betsy Barlow
• Scot Case, Center for a New American Dream
• The Center for Environmental Studies
• My friends and family