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Sustainable Food Procurement Strategy |
Procurement decisions have significant socio-economic and environmental implications, both locally and globally, now and for future generations. As part of a Local Authority, Lancashire County Commercial Group has a natural desire and duty to support the local economy, our community and the environment around us.
We recognise the value and importance of ethical trading, sourcing British and local eco-friendly produce, and we are fully committed to harnessing our collective buying power to instigate positive change, and influence others to do the same.
We will balance the desire to pursue sourcing initiatives with the importance of not compromising the safety and quality of the products and services we need, and of course not breaching procurement legislation.
Our aim is to assure our customers that we offer value for money and deliver a well rounded food service: We make it our business to always consider where the food we put on our plates comes from and how it was produced.
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What is Sustainable Procurement? |
The Government’s Sustainable Procurement Task Force defined sustainable procurement as; a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods and services in a way that achieves value for money on a whole-life-cost basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation but also to society and the economy whilst minimising damage to the environment.
Sustainable food procurement is therefore about taking environmental, social and economic factors into account when making purchasing decisions.
Examples include:
- Food miles/logistics
- Material use and recycling
- Ethical or fair trading including animal welfare
- Encouraging local businesses to develop and compete
- Efficient manufacturing and production techniques
- A supplier’s ability to address related consequences throughout the supply chain.
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Our Sustainability Good Practice Summary |
In furtherance of our sustainable food procurement strategy and aims LCCG is committed to:
- Pursuing Government’s sustainability and food initiatives whilst being mindful of procurement legislation.
- Ensuring we achieve value for money in delivering a well rounded quality service.
- Procuring fair or ethically traded produce wherever possible.
- Buying British and local produce wherever possible; reducing food miles.
- Increasing opportunities for small/local producers to tender.
- Raising awareness of sustainability issues in both our supply and customer base.
- Actively encouraging our suppliers to exceed UK and EU legal requirements by acquiring ‘whole company’ recognised accreditations and ‘product specific’ assurances.
- Supporting best practice in animal welfare.
- Contributing to the raising of production and process standards.
- Procuring foods with low levels of packaging, recyclable, returnable or biodegradable packaging.
- Educating/training employees to minimise food waste, control stock effectively, utilise recycling facilities and services where appropriate and use energy efficient practices.
- Ensuring menus reflect seasonal fresh produce locally available, and in line with nutritional standards.
- Positively influencing the diet of children and young people.
- Investing efficiency gains in service improvements.
- Forward planning to protect against rising prices in a volatile market.
- Continually observing customer opinion and professional publications on food issues such as Organics and Genetic Modification.
- Implementing change for the better.
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