The PWR SWATeam kindly requests that all products that are purchased using university funds be in accordance with Section 44 of the Administrative Code, Procurement Rules for Institutes of Higher Education, Section 4.4520 “Recycled Supplies” and 4.4525 “Recyclable Supplies (Paper)”). Additional relevant sections of the Administrative Code, Procurement Rules are presented at the end of this Recommendation.

Currently these parts of the Administrative Code are difficult to enforce due to direct department access to University contracted iBuy vendor catalogs. In an attempt to gain process efficiencies, these transactions can be made without the oversight of the purchasing office. To increase compliance, the purchasing office should work with contracted vendors to modify iBuy catalogs to prioritize and promote the sale of sustainable supplies. See relevant sections of the Administrative Code, Procurement Rules shown at the end of this recommendation.

This could be facilitated by the Zero Waste Coordinator, who would work with Purchasing to monitor compliance with the code and to follow-up with campus units that are not in compliance with the code.

Additionally, the possibility of purchasing centralization should remain open for consideration in the future to achieve compliance with Section 44 of Administrative Code.