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The BuySmart Network (formerly the Sustainability Purchasing Network) is the primary source of information and education on sustainability purchasing in Canada. We support organizations in their efforts to buy smarter, greener, and with more social consciousness.
If you are interested in making purchasing and logistics choices that consider how goods and services promote a healthier community and environment through all stages of their life cycle—from extraction and harvesting to manufacturing to disposal—this website is for you.
Visit our Resource Center to access state-of-the art research, best practices, and resources on sustainability purchasing.
Go to Learning Events to sign up for a Network Learning Circle or Workshop to develop your own professional skills and knowledge in this emerging strategic business and sustainability practice.
Learn about our Partners and Sponsors, organizations that are helping to drive environmental, social, and ethical sustainability through our economy.
What does it mean to buy "sustainably"?
Sustainability purchasing is the process by which organizations buy goods and services taking into account not only the economic value for money (price, quality, availability, functionality) but also the environmental, social, and ethical impacts of these goods and services - at local, regional, and global levels.
For example, sustainability purchasing considers (in the case of products):
- What the product is made from and how long it lasts.
- The energy, material, and emissions "footprints" associated with its manufacture and transport.
- Who has made it, how it's made, and under what working conditions.
- How it will ultimately be disposed of.
- Whether the purchase needs to be made at all.
The range of objectives a sustainability purchasing program might consider include:
- Waste prevention and reduction
- Resource reduction
- Pollution and toxin reduction
- Reduction of greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions
- Biodiversity maintenance
- Wages and working conditions
- Employee health and safety
- Human rights
- Growth of a sustainable economy
- Support for local economy
- Support for social enterprises
- Aboriginal procurement
- Fair trade
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