Purchasing for Zero Waste: Online 2-hour Workshop June 21st
Jill Donello
Marialyce Pedersen will lead this 2-hour, interactive, virtual workshop on Environmentally Preferable Purchasing for cities, organizations and businesses on June 21st, 10-12pm Pacific (1-3pm Eastern).
Build Your Zero Waste Purchasing Powers
Environmentally Preferred Purchasing Workshop
Wednesday, June 21st, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Pacific Time
You already know that purchasing intentionally, whether to achieve resource conservation and financial savings, or in the pursuit of higher goals like Zero Waste and our desired Circular Economy, is of critical importance today for businesses, local governments, schools, and nonprofits. But both common and unique issues beset us as individuals in our roles within organizations.
Come to this Environmentally Preferred Purchasing Workshop where Marialyce Pedersen will deliver tailored and actionable guidance, coupled with a robust question-and-answer session, intended to enable participants to walk away well prepared to solve their trickiest EPP issues.
Whether you are just starting out and seeking advice on building support for environmentally preferred purchasing practices or establishing a policy in a centralized procurement system, need to communicate to and educate leaders and co-workers in a decentralized workplace, or are ready to locate responsible products and form relationships with EPP vendors, and require assistance with contract clauses and best practices in tracking outcomes like reportable environmental savings, this
workshop will deliver!
Workshop Objectives
This workshop will provide attendees with a solid understanding of Environmentally Preferred Purchasing, addressing a myriad of specific interests, needs and concerns of participants. We will customize the program based on concerns raised by participants prior to attendance.
What You’ll Learn
US regulations and legislation (including Extended Producer Responsibility - EPR - laws) including what is expected of organizations to comply
What works when building organizational support for EPP
Developing and adopting a model EPP preference or policy
Tracking, reporting, and obtaining recognition for your EPP achievements
Avoiding “greenwashing”
The when, whys, and hows for selecting recycled content, reusable, compostable, safe, and responsible products with reputably supported claims, and how “product identifier” systems for environmental attributes make EPP easier
Planning for end-of-life recycling, or requesting supplier take-back programs for non recyclable products or packaging
Summary of prevalent EPP certification programs and their potential impacts, including Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Institute (SFI), Amazon’s Climate-Friendly Pledge, BPI Compostable, and others
Introduction to Life Cycle Analysis assessments, Environmental Product Declarations, and how to use the US EPA WARM tool to assess environmental savings
Overview of the newly released U.S. Plastics Pact's Post Consumer Recycled Content (PCR) Toolkit, to help companies decrease their usage of virgin plastic in packaging and products, and replace it with recycled content, thus making progress toward circularity
Upon Completion of this Workshop, You Will Be Able to:
Understand existing and emerging EPP regulations which may affect your organization, and how to be prepared to comply
Consult existing leading-edge purchasing policies and draw from them to draft an EPP preference or policy for your organization
Know how product identifiers drive EPP, where you can find them in use now, and how to influence existing suppliers to establish new or additional identifiers, as well as track their purchasing
Apply what’s worked in communicating to and obtaining support of senior leaders and co- workers about EPP and how to drive participation, program success and organizational pride
Report key environmental and financial savings (Key Performance Indicators) achieved by EPP program implementation
Meet Your Instructor
From 2003 to 2019, Marialyce was a senior environmental policy analyst for The Walt Disney Company (Corporate Citizenship; Global Public Policy), developing and supporting implementation of companywide environmental goals, policies, standards, and guidelines. Marialyce also worked for 11 years as an innovative recycling specialist for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. She is the co-author of the bestselling how-to book, Backyard Composting (1992) and currently a regular contributor to the National Recycling Coalition member e-newsletter.
Learn more about Marialyce on LinkedIn, GCBI TRUE, and NRC.