How to Use Purchasing Guidelines to Reduce Business Waste

Ever time your business buys more than it needs, you are producing waste and lowering your bottom line. You can maximize your purchase power and reduce your waste by establishing guidelines to help your employees decide how much to buy and when to buy it. Here are some guidelines you can use to reduce your business waste.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Get recycled products when you can. If you purchase business cards or envelops made from recycled paper, you will have already reduced the net waste your company produces.
2. Buy only what you can use in a year and replenish your stocks only as they are used. Although it may be cheaper to buy pens and papers in bulk, these materials could get old and unusable before anyone has a chance to open the package.
3. Purchase a minimum amount of business cards. Most people never need business cards. Others will get promoted or leave the company before they can ever use them. Reduce this source of waste. Never give any employee more than 50 business cards at a time. Of course, for special events, such as symposia, you might want to increase that number.
4. Consider the durability and lifetime of a product before you purchase it. Assume that electronics will only last as long as their warranty, and choose a printer with a 10 year warranty over one with a 2 year warranty. This is reduce the amount of waste you could generate updating your equipment.
5. Substitute toxic materials for those that are nontoxic. In laboratories, this could mean using one chemical instead of another. In an office, you could use a vegetable-based ink in your printer instead of a synthetic one. It may be the same amount of waste, but at least it's less harmful.
6. Order supplies from companies that do not use excessive packaging. This also means, when you send materials to your clients and customers, do not use too much packaging either.
7. Avoid using mail-order systems to purchase supplies. Stick to phone or internet ordering. This will reduce paper waste.