Purchasing

389 resources

Water Bottle Refill Station, McGill, Downtown Campus

  • McGill University (QC)

As part of the 2019 Refill McGill campaign, the sale of water bottles was banned on campus. During the course of the campaign, over 30 water fountains were installed or ...


SCI 2021: University of Utah Geothermal Contract

  • University of Utah (UT)

Long-Term 20 MW Geothermal Power Purchase and Rate Tariff Leadership: The long-term 20 MW Geothermal Power Purchase and Rate Tariff Leadership project began supplying the University of Utah with 20 ...


Managed Print Program at American University

  • American University (DC)

SCI 2021 Feature: Ditching Desktop Printers

A campus-wide Managed Print Program at American University is streamlining the print process and reducing costs associated with energy usage and waste. Since this ...


Lehigh, Lafayette, Muhlenberg and Dickinson Join Forces for Unprecedented Renewable Energy Project

  • Dickinson College (PA)
  • Lafayette College (PA)
  • Lehigh University (PA)
  • Muhlenberg College (PA)
  • Coho Climate Advisors (MD)

In February 2020, Lehigh University, Lafayette College, Muhlenberg College and Dickinson College announced a partnership to purchase renewable energy as a collective. Together, the four schools will purchase the largest ...

  • Posted July 15, 2021
  • Publications
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Higher Education’s Crucial Role: Building a Sustainable and Circular Economy

  • AASHE (PA)
  • U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
  • Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) (PA)
  • Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association (IN)
  • Association of College and University Housing Officers - International (OH)
  • APPA: Leadership in Educational Facilities (VA)
  • Rheaply, Inc (IL)
  • Society for College and University Planning (MI)
  • Ellen MacArthur Foundation
  • Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (MA)
  • Barnard College (NY)

Join this webinar to learn how the circular economy* can help shape better procurement decisions and ways in which you manage your campus, facilities and supply of goods and services ...

  • Posted July 1, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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Closing Keynote Speaker George Bandy: AASHE 2013

  • Interface, Inc (GA)

George Bandy, VIce President for Sustainability at Interface provides closing remarks at the AASHE 2013 Conference in Nashville, TN.

  • Posted June 4, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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Climate Friendly Cooling Pledge and New Regulations Affecting Universities: Opportunities and Implications

  • Bard College (NY)
  • Yale University (CT)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • Project Drawdown (CA)
  • The Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (DC)

Action is needed now by college staff in facilities, EHS, sustainability, student life, business offices, auxiliary services, housing, dining, planning, and procurement. Changes within all these staff areas to manage ...

  • Posted June 3, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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20 MW Solar Energy Purchase

  • University of Utah (UT)

The University of Utah has made a PPA of 20 MW of off-site solar energy in Huntington, UT, set to begin delivery in early 2022. The University of Utah’s ...


20MW Geothermal Power Purchase

  • University of Utah (UT)

The University of Utah, through a partnership with Cyrq Energy and Rocky Mountain Power, has made a groundbreaking geothermal energy purchase. This contract will supply the University of Utah with ...


What's in Your Paper? Organizational Fiber Consumption and the Purchasing Decisions that Drive it

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)

Institutions of higher education (HEI) today often pursue sustainability in a holistic manner, integrating sustainability into their day to day operations as well as their long-term strategic plans. One challenge ...


Durham Tech Break Free From Plastics

  • Durham Technical Community College (NC)
  • The Student PIRGs (OR)

Student leaders at Durham Tech Community College, worked with the Student PIRGs in NC to run and win a campus campaign to Break Free From Plastics in order to protect ...


How Brandeis reduced our food carbon footprint over 20% in its first sustainable dining program

  • Brandeis University (MA)

This case study reviews how Brandeis harnessed the RFP and contracting process for a new dining vendor in 2019-2021 to make huge and first-ever strides in sustainability in our dining ...


Webinar: Cleaning for Health: Using Natural Aqueous Ozone as an Alternative to Traditional Cleaning Chemicals

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
  • AASHE (PA)

Please join us for this informative, lively discussion on the benefits of using natural aqueous ozone to clean higher education facilities instead of traditional chemical-based cleaners. Three highly knowledgable presenters ...

  • Posted April 29, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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Behavioral Strategies To Ditch Desktop Printers

  • AASHE (PA)
  • Root Solutions (CA)

Replacing individual desktop printers with shared ‘multi-function’ printers (MFPs) is one of the most impactful ways campuses can reduce paper use. It also generates a suite of other benefits, including ...

  • Posted March 26, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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SUNY New Paltz Pivots from Plastic Bottles to Aluminum Cans to Move Beyond Plastics

  • State University of New York at New Paltz (NY)

In the fall of 2020, Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS), which contracts on behalf of SUNY New Paltz for beverages to be distributed through vending machines and the dining services contractor ...

  • Posted Feb. 24, 2021
  • Case Studies
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3D Printer Safety: A Guide for Institutions of Higher Education to Support Indoor Air Quality & Human Health

  • Chemical Insights (GA)

Thanks to the development of affordable, compact, and user-friendly 3D printers, consumer use is booming, particularly in institutions of higher education. 3D printers have become a valuable tool in classrooms ...


Reducing Dining Emissions: An Analysis of Beef and Milk Substitutions

  • Smith College (MA)
  • AASHE (PA)

The life cycle of food is responsible for over a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through production, processing, distribution, and waste. The environmental impact of specific foods varies ...

  • Posted Jan. 28, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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Desktop Printer Removal and the Transition to Managed Multi-Function Printers: Benefits and Case Studies

  • Root Solutions (CA)

This document was designed to introduce higher ed staff to the topic of printer consolidation, with an emphasis on the many sustainability and other benefits (especially cost savings) of replacing ...

  • Posted Dec. 29, 2020
  • Publications
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Urban and Metropolitan Universities: The Transformative Power of Anchor Institutions

  • Democracy Collaborative (DC)

'Urban and Metropolitan Universities: The Transformative Power of Anchor Institutions' focuses on the role of urban and metropolitan universities as anchor institutions in their community to address long standing inequities ...

  • Posted Oct. 23, 2020
  • Publications
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Ontario Tech University - Solar Panels

  • Ontario Tech University (ON)

Ontario Tech University’s long-established reputation as a post-secondary leader in conservation and green community-building has achieved a Gold rating from AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS ...


Cal State East Bay Embraces System-wide Single-use Plastics Policy

  • California State University, East Bay (CA)

The California State University system passed a new system-wide policy in 2019 that applies to all 23 CSU campuses in banning the institutional purchase of all single-use plastics. Plastic straws ...


COVID-19 and Sustainability Resources

  • Princeton University (NJ)

The Office of Sustainability has compiled this list of resources to support Princeton University students, faculty and staff as they navigate challenges related to sustainability and COVID-19 at this moment ...

  • Posted Sept. 11, 2020
  • Publications
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A Holistic Approach and Model for a Sustainable Food System

  • Harvard University (MA)
  • AASHE (PA)

The Harvard Office for Sustainability (OFS) convened a multi-disciplinary committee of world-renowned faculty to translate their research into action on campus to create a more sustainable food system that contributes ...

  • Posted July 9, 2020
  • Videos & Webinars
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Doing Good While Doing Your Job – Moving Toward a Circular Economy (during this time of Coronavirus)

  • Stony Brook University (NY)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (DC)
  • Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (MA)
  • Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Brought to you by the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) and its members – a network of higher education associations with a commitment to advancing sustainability within their constituencies and ...

  • Posted May 28, 2020
  • Videos & Webinars
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Committing UC Berkeley to the Strongest Plastic Ban in the Country

  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)
  • CALPIRG Students (CA)

CALPIRG Students, a student-run public interest nonprofit, ran and won their campaign to commit UC Berkeley to eliminate all non-essential single-use plastic by 2030. This is the strongest plastic ban ...


The Free Store: A centre for re-use & recycling at the University of Ottawa

  • University of Ottawa (ON)

The University of Ottawa’s Residences had a problem with waste. Large dumpsters would fill with valuable and reusable items every spring and fall when students moved out. These items ...


Diversity Food Services: Leading the Way on Socially and Environmentally responsible Campus Dining in Canada

  • University of Winnipeg (MB)

The University of Winnipeg Campus Sustainability Office would like to nominate Diversity Food Services for an AASHE Campus Sustainability Achievement Award.

Diversity Food Services is a joint venture of the ...


The relationship between moral competences and sustainable consumption among higher education students

  • NEOMA Business School (Rouen)
  • Comillas Universidad Pontificia (Madrid)

Despite claims of the importance of students developing moral competences in the context of Education for Sustainable Consumption, the literature lacks a systematic perspective that empirically assesses the association between ...


Green Chemistry and Environmental Management Systems: Relationships, Synergies, Advantages and Barriers of Joint Implementation at Universities

  • Universidad San Jorge

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) based on international standard ISO 14001 are recognized as a tool to improve the environment and the sustainability of organizations. Green Chemistry (GC) seeks to reduce ...


Sustainability and procurement practices in higher education institutions: Barriers and drivers

  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Universidade federal de Santa Maria
  • University of Winchester
  • University of the Aegean (Lesvos)

A review of the literature reveals the scant research on sustainable procurement in the public sector, and in particular higher education institutions (HEIs). In this context, this paper aims to ...


How mindfulness training cultivates introspection and competence development for sustainable consumption

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationship between introspection and key competencies for sustainable consumption (KCSCs). It investigates whether mindfulness training can cultivate the ability to introspect and stimulate ...


The Working Farms Fund: Partnership to Build a Sustainable Local Food System

  • Emory University (GA)

Emory University and The Conservation Fund have formed a new partnership to support next-generation farmers in Georgia and help build the local food supply across metro Atlanta with a first-of-its-kind ...


“Box to Farm to Compost”: A Paradigm Shift from an Extractive Culture to Regenerative Culture

  • Iowa State University (IA)

As a land grant university with a student population of over 30,000 students and about 6000 faculty and staff, there are enormous packaging items that make its way to ...


Analysing material and embodied environmental flows of an Australian university — Towards a more circular economy

  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

Humans are extracting and consuming unprecedented quantities of materials from the crust of the Earth. Contributing to this consumption, university campuses require large amounts of materials to operate. This offers ...

  • Posted March 4, 2020
  • Publications
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Webinar: Innovation in Cleaning for Custodians and Students

  • Stanford University (CA)
  • AASHE (PA)

Stanford University’s Residential and Dining Enterprises has adopted a green cleaning standard that has reduced chemical usage in residences by over 90%. The system engineers water by infusing it ...

  • Posted Dec. 12, 2019
  • Videos & Webinars
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Sustainable Procurement: Considerations and Best Practices

  • Global Electronics Council (OR)

Strategic sustainable purchasing programs allow institutional purchasers, and colleges and universities in particular to advance the sustainable design of products and services they purchase while realizing environmental savings for their ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Leading with Circular Economy Concepts, Business Cases and Tools

  • Stanford University (CA)
  • Cascadia Consulting Group, Inc. (WA)
  • Interface, Inc (GA)

A circular economy is an economic system aimed at minimizing waste and making the most of resources. This regenerative approach (in contrast to the traditional linear economy, which has a ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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EcoCoin Program as an Effective Alternative to Banning Plastic Bags

  • University of Connecticut (CT)

On a small scale, localized bans and ordinances against single use plastic bags present many challenges: How will it impact local businesses' bottom line? Will customers go elsewhere? Who enforces ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Sustainable Economy in Labs: I2SL's Landfill Diversion Working Group Pursues Upstream Dysfunction

  • Emory University (GA)
  • University of Georgia (GA)

Researcher time is for research! Join us in calling for upstream innovations to build a circular economy and protect valuable scholar time! Achieving sustainability in laboratory settings with regard to ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Improving Sustainable Purchasing Through Business Services Systems and Practices

  • Stanford University (CA)

The purchase of supplies by staff in universities is connected to the use of energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste. The types and quantities of supplies purchased in universities ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Sustainable Procurement in Laboratories: It's Time to Act

  • My Green Lab (CA)

Recent years have seen an increased focus on sustainable procurement across a multitude of industries. Yet with little information or sustainability standards for laboratory products, it has been challenging for ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Beyond Green - Can Your IT Purchasing Also Drive Supply Chain Responsibility?

  • TCO Certified (TX)

IT hardware is a complex category for institutional purchasers. Institutions are concerned about not only environmental impacts of their IT infrastructure, but also working conditions in the manufacturing supply chains ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Breaking the Cycle of Convenience Culture: Inspiring Accountability Through Ownership

  • KeepCup (CA)

College and university campuses are not closed systems. The population changes day to day, depending on class, staff, and vendor schedules and activities. With an ever-changing population with diverse needs ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Leveraging Campus Buying Power to Get Toxic Chemicals Out of Our Food and Off School Grounds

  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)
  • Center for Environmental Health

This session aims to educate, inspire, and equip purchasing decision makers, relevant staff and students to take action, collaborate with other purchasers, and employ creative solutions to eliminate toxic chemicals ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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California State University Says Goodbye to Single-Use Plastics

  • California State University, Chancellor's Office (CA)
  • California State University, Long Beach (CA)
  • California State University, Los Angeles (CA)

The California State University includes 23 campuses, 500,000 students and sustains more than 150,000 employees. A new system policy enacted in December establishes purchasing practices aimed at eliminating ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Purchasing With Your Values

  • Bow Valley College (AB)

Public institutions have to be conscious stewards of public funds when making purchasing decisions. Passing Sustainable Purchasing Policies or Procedures can help empower employees of schools to be creative and ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Supply Chain Partnerships: MSU and SPLC Pilot BENCHMARK in Higher Ed Operations

  • Michigan State University (MI)
  • Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (MA)

Organizations around the world have recognized the need for supply chain sustainability in order to reduce the environmental, social and economic impacts of their purchasing while protecting and delivering value ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Leveraging Institutional Buying Power for Sustainable Procurement: A Strategizing Session

  • Boston University (MA)
  • University of California, Office of the President (CA)

Many colleges and universities have separate conversations with the same suppliers. Imagine the impact we could have on the environment if higher ed coordinated sustainability requests of these companies and ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Outdoor Program Gear Purchasing: Applying Leave No Trace Ethics to Create a Circular Economy

  • Auburn University (AL)
  • University of North Carolina, Asheville (NC)

This session will explore how outdoor programs can become more sustainable in regard to purchasing, maintenance, and transportation while effectively educating the student population on these topics. Presenters are two ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Improving Health in the Built Environment Through a Class-Based Approach to Chemicals of Concern

  • Harvard University (MA)
  • Center for Environmental Health

This panel introduces purchasers (and manufacturers) to the targeted chemical class-based approach to help provide clarity grounded in science about how to avoid the most common chemicals of concern in ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.

All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.

OP 11: Sustainable Procurement

OP 12: Electronics Purchasing

OP 13: Cleaning & Janitorial Purchasing

OP 14: Office Paper Purchasing

Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.

Purchasing Partners