Sustainable Purchasing, whether for your office or home, doesn't have to be a mystery. 

So what is sustainability?

Sustainability is a way of looking at things that recognizes there are three equally important elements of a thriving, healthy world – a strong economy, a healthy environment and social well-being. It is about ensuring that our choices and actions are not only economical but also environmentally and socially responsible. Ensuring that we meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs is the essence of sustainable development*.
* The Brundtland Commission definition of sustainable development, World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)

Sustainable purchasing addresses environmental and social factors, as well as the actual costs of a product.  To do this you need to look at the full life cycle of a product - how it was made, what it was made from, how you can dispose of the product and whether you really need it. Ideally, sustainable purchasing drives our purchasing power toward lessening the impact of doing business on the environment and society.

Here are a few questions to ask when looking for sustainable products:

1. Can we do without it?

2. Does it have less embodied energy (the energy required to manufacture and transport a product)? This can be tricky so here is an example:

Using Naked binder vs. vinyl binder as an example (we know a lot about this one) One is 100% recycled post consumer waste paper board. One is some form of at least partially recycled board encased in vinyl. Even assuming the energy needed to create the board is roughly similar (recycled paper uses less energy, water and generates less air pollution and also doesn't embody the energy from harvesting trees), creating vinyl, processing it and manufacturing a vinyl binder all have higher embodied energy than does a bare board binder. Also, most vinyl binders are made in China, so the shipping energy is included.  (Naked Binders are made in Iowa, in the USA)

3. Does it have less embodied pollution (the quantity of pollutants created in the manufacture and transportation)? 

According to the EPA, recycling paper uses less energy and generates less pollution than does converting virgin wood to paper. For these questions the trail can be long.  Is it oil based (vinyl, plastics), what did it take to get the ingredients, to process them, to dispose of them.  What by-products came from the process?

4. Is it more energy efficient?

5. Is it locally manufactured (contributes to the local economy, and reduces embodied energy and pollution)?

6. Does it have a longer life cycle (longer lasting products reduce consumption)?

7. Can it be recycled, and / or does it contain recycled content?

8. Does it reduce the amount of waste destined for a landfill (through reuse)?

This is something that requires legwork also.  Taking a vinyl binder.  Vinyl is actually recyclable. The problem is you, personally, can't recycle your vinyl binder.  There is no infrastructure in the US to do so. Only 2-4% of the 8 billion pounds of vinyl made overy year in the US is recycled and that is usually production waste.

9. Is the product a naturally occurring, renewable, and sustainable resource?

10. Does it raise awareness of environmental issues?

So how to do you go about purchasing more sustianably?

Take stock of what you do, what you use and what you need.  Randomly making changes will still give positive results, but having a plan will help you prioritize and monitor your progress.  This process will have you looking at how your habitual ways of working, using materials and working to make it all more efficient.

Realize that people are resistant to change. Listen to people, work with them.  Some steps are harder than others.

As you make changes, celebrate them.  Those who are resistant to change will get on board more quickly if sustainability isn't presented as an austerity program, but rather as a positive that saves the company money, saves the environment and strengthens the company in image and morale.