Sustainable procurement

Direction: Factor sustainability requirements into all major purchasing decisions

As a large organization, the supply chain of materials, technology, and commodities that support campus operations can have large impacts in their production, extraction, and transportation.

Waterloo continues to track the percent of sustainably-certified paper, electronics, and cleaning products that are purchased by the campus, and has implemented guidelines and user guidance to support sustainable purchasing acorss units. Ongoing implementation of the Lifecycle Costing Guideline also ensures that purchasing decisions support long-term efficiencies, in addition to short-term cost savings.

Additional opportunities exist to develop a more centralized and formal sustainable procurement policy, while further integrating sustainability requirements within procurement scoring.

Indicators

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83.9% of paper purchases have FSC certification and/or contain recycled content
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88.6% of all major electronic purchases are certified to a minimum of EPEAT silver
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80.0% of all janitorial cleaning and paper products bear an environmental certification

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Academic mission

Operational practice

Campus engagement

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Actions and accomplishments

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Historic actions and accomplishments

Actions from various departments and teams at Waterloo to advance this objective have included, but are not limited to:

2024

  • Initiated a new supplier code of conduct

2023

2021

2019

  • Published a sustainable procurement guide on the Sustainability website to provide information to the campus community on credible sustainable procurement approaches and certifications
  • Developed draft disclosure checklist and piloted with 3 large campus vendors for ability to complete information about basic corporate sustainability practices
  • Phased out some intensive cleaning chemicals for vinegar as a natural alternative

2017

  • Developed tracking systems for paper, IT, and cleaning supply categories, with substantial increases in sustainably certified product purchasing in paper and IT

Procurement

An accessible version of this data can be downloaded here: Sustainable Purchasing Data 2026 (Excel)

Methodology

Boundary

All University of Waterloo, excluding Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo.

Methodology

Limitations and Exclusions:

  • This does not include materials purchased and used by students, or through on-campus services such as Print and Retail Solutions.
  • Paper purchases through Staples were not included in 2014 due to lack of data availability.
  • Data on paper purchasing was not available in 2015.
  • Office departments that purchase paper, electronics, or cleaning products through a supplier other than centrally-managed processes were not included, as there is no tracking currently available.

Paper Product Criteria: STARS criteria for paper classifications were given to Waterloo’s main paper suppliers, who provided a breakdown of which overall paper purchases fit within each tier of recycled content and/or FSC certification. FSC Stands for the Forest Stewardship Council, which ensures a chain of custody on certified products that source paper from either recycled or responsibly managed forests. In 2020, Waterloo adjusted its subcategorization of "FSC-Label Only" paper to blend with the 70-89% Recycled" paper, to align with reporting changes in STARS 2.2 for the same, now labelled as "70-89%/FSC-Mixed". This had no change to the overall indicator outcome.

Cleaning and Janitorial Product Criteria: Cleaning and janitorial paper products included all chemical cleaners and solvents used across campus, as well as paper towels and toilet paper. Staff from Custodial Services and Housing cleaning services identified any certified products carrying the Greenguard, Green Seal, or UL ECOLOGO designations.

Electronic Products Criteria: Procurement and Contract Services contacted major electronics suppliers for the campus and requested a report on products that had received a minimum of EPEAT Bronze or higher certification. EPEAT stands for the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, and is a comprehensive framework for evaluating the lifecycle impacts of electronic equipment, developed and managed by the Green Electronics Council.

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