UN Earth Summit+5 Success Stories - Local Agenda 21 - Sustainable Procurement in Pori: Changing Consumption Patterns in Purchasing

EARTH SUMMIT+5
Special Session of the General Assembly to Review and Appraise
the Implementation of Agenda 21
New York, 23-27 June 1997
SUCCESS STORIES FROM FINLAND

Sustainable Procurement in Pori: Changing Consumption Patterns in Purchasing
This and other Local Agenda 21 succes story are provided by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).

Location Pori, Finland.

Responsible organization Joint initiative of the Environmental Protection and Procurement Departments of the City of Pori, Finland. Later the project was led by a coordinating group, in which those making significant purchasing decisions were represented, including the archivist, environmental inspector, leading nurse, manager of office estate, and procurement, maintenance, environmental protection, cleaning, and catering department heads.

Description Project Duration: Spring 1991 - Autumn 1993. The purchasing decisions of local governments can be powerful market influences. When municipal purchasing policies are implemented that favour ecologically sensible products, those products often become easier to acquire for smaller businesses and individuals.
Other elements crucial to selecting products that have a low environmental impact were also considered, including product durability and packaging. In the beginning each purchasing sector concentrated only on few products, which were selected either because they had very harmful environmental impacts or because they were purchased in high quantities.

Issues addressed Changing consumption patterns and minimizing waste production.

Objectives The goal of the sustainable procurement project in Pori was to change the procurement patterns of the municipal administration by avoiding unnecessary consumption and minimize waste production.

Results achieved The following changes have resulted from Pori's green purchasing program: use of paper has decreased because of electric file transfers; all paper purchased is either chlorine-free or has recycled content; paper recycling is near 100%; use of biodegradable chemicals has increased; use of non-packed food stuffs has increased; kitchen wastes have decreased to 1/10 of previous amounts; use of disposable products has been reduced; use of spray cans has been abandoned; instead of painting, metal structures are treated with zinc; unwanted electrical and computer items are now traded in the city through a computer bulletin board.

Lessons learned The city found that the project required far more work than initially expected. It is important to have the principles of sustainable development well understood and to get the committment of the elected officials and municipal executives. Within the branches of municipal administration one of the notable changes has been the discussion and questioning on the quality of products and working patterns.
One of the main difficulties in changing the procurement patterns was to find clear and reliable information. Assessing the life-cycles of products in continuously changing markets is too demanding for non-experts; thus reliable eco-labels are valuable to those making decisions in purchasing. Unfortunately, there has been very little systematic follow-up of Pori's procurement changes. Some of the chosen products have later turned out to be impractical or improper and thus have been abandoned. Because of the lack of proper follow-up, this type of information is not available to other municipalities looking at green procurement. However, "green" products used were user-friendly and safe for the employees, which helped making the decision to purchase the sometimes more expensive but environmentally-friendly products.

Financing The program budget was FIM 20,000 (ECU 3,300) for testing new products and an additional FIM 20,000 for preparing the final report. Each department covered their own purchasing costs.

Contact Contact Mr. Kari Annala, Head of Environmental Protection, Porin kaupunki, Antinkatu 6 B, FIN- 28100 Pori, Finland; Tel: +358-2/6211-220, Fax: +358-2/6211-223, Email: kari.annala@pori.fi
Mr. Reima Kauhanen, Project Manager of Green Triangle Finland; Tel. +358 3 8114 202, FAx + 358 3 8114 333.
The original text for this case was submitted by the Local Sustainability European Good Practice Information Service (http://cities21.com/europractice) in its original format from the publication "Learning New Skills" (1996) of The Association of Finnish Local Authorities, Helsinki.

Copyright © United Nations
Division for Sustainable Development
Comments and suggestions: dsd@un.org
Last updated 23 January 1998

	Sustainable Procurement in Pori: Changing Consumption Patterns in Purchasing This and other Local Agenda 21 succes story are provided by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).
	Location	Pori, Finland.
	Responsible organization	Joint initiative of the Environmental Protection and Procurement Departments of the City of Pori, Finland. Later the project was led by a coordinating group, in which those making significant purchasing decisions were represented, including the archivist, environmental inspector, leading nurse, manager of office estate, and procurement, maintenance, environmental protection, cleaning, and catering department heads.
	Description	Project Duration: Spring 1991 - Autumn 1993. The purchasing decisions of local governments can be powerful market influences. When municipal purchasing policies are implemented that favour ecologically sensible products, those products often become easier to acquire for smaller businesses and individuals. Other elements crucial to selecting products that have a low environmental impact were also considered, including product durability and packaging. In the beginning each purchasing sector concentrated only on few products, which were selected either because they had very harmful environmental impacts or because they were purchased in high quantities.
	Issues addressed	Changing consumption patterns and minimizing waste production.
	Objectives	The goal of the sustainable procurement project in Pori was to change the procurement patterns of the municipal administration by avoiding unnecessary consumption and minimize waste production.
	Results achieved	The following changes have resulted from Pori's green purchasing program: use of paper has decreased because of electric file transfers; all paper purchased is either chlorine-free or has recycled content; paper recycling is near 100%; use of biodegradable chemicals has increased; use of non-packed food stuffs has increased; kitchen wastes have decreased to 1/10 of previous amounts; use of disposable products has been reduced; use of spray cans has been abandoned; instead of painting, metal structures are treated with zinc; unwanted electrical and computer items are now traded in the city through a computer bulletin board.
	Lessons learned	The city found that the project required far more work than initially expected. It is important to have the principles of sustainable development well understood and to get the committment of the elected officials and municipal executives. Within the branches of municipal administration one of the notable changes has been the discussion and questioning on the quality of products and working patterns. One of the main difficulties in changing the procurement patterns was to find clear and reliable information. Assessing the life-cycles of products in continuously changing markets is too demanding for non-experts; thus reliable eco-labels are valuable to those making decisions in purchasing. Unfortunately, there has been very little systematic follow-up of Pori's procurement changes. Some of the chosen products have later turned out to be impractical or improper and thus have been abandoned. Because of the lack of proper follow-up, this type of information is not available to other municipalities looking at green procurement. However, "green" products used were user-friendly and safe for the employees, which helped making the decision to purchase the sometimes more expensive but environmentally-friendly products.
	Financing	The program budget was FIM 20,000 (ECU 3,300) for testing new products and an additional FIM 20,000 for preparing the final report. Each department covered their own purchasing costs.
	Contact	Contact Mr. Kari Annala, Head of Environmental Protection, Porin kaupunki, Antinkatu 6 B, FIN- 28100 Pori, Finland; Tel: +358-2/6211-220, Fax: +358-2/6211-223, Email: kari.annala@pori.fi Mr. Reima Kauhanen, Project Manager of Green Triangle Finland; Tel. +358 3 8114 202, FAx + 358 3 8114 333. The original text for this case was submitted by the Local Sustainability European Good Practice Information Service (http://cities21.com/europractice) in its original format from the publication "Learning New Skills" (1996) of The Association of Finnish Local Authorities, Helsinki.