UNITED KINGDOM
Government Departments in the UK are to be asked to consider the environmental implications of major procurements as part of a long-awaited resources and waste strategy.
The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs said sustainability would be part of a strategic and robust approach to procurement with social value at its core.
“More sustainable Government procurement can help to generate less waste and also increase demand for more resource-efficient goods and services and stimulate innovation,” the Department said.
Plans to make social value a metric in assessments of contractors for Government work were announced by Minister for the Cabinet Office, David Lidington in July, in an effort to rebuild public confidence following the collapse of the outsourcing giant Carillion.
At the time, Mr Lidington said the Government wanted to see “public services delivered with values at their heart, where the wider social benefits matter and are recognised”.
The Department said the new procurement rules would help to sustain UN Development Goal 12, to improve the sustainability of consumption and production patterns.
It said to support the rule change, the Public Service will train its 4,000 commercial buyers in how to take account of social value and procure from social enterprises.
The strategy aims to dramatically reduce the amount of waste going into landfill through driving up recycling and developing novel ways to use waste materials.
There are early indications that the drive to reduce Government-sanctioned single-use plastics in Whitehall Departments is having an impact.
Last month, the Foreign Office reported it had cut the use of plastic cutlery, coffee cups and other single-use plastics by 97 per cent.
London, 11 January 2019
