Four R’s of Preventing Waste – Rebuy

July 21st, 2011

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing. Mark asks "How can you close the loop on the Recycling Four R’s?"

Today we will cover the four most common R in the Four Waste Reduction R’s; Rebuy.  As procurement professionals this is where your influence has the greatest affect as you begin to close the loop on the journey to becoming a  greener company.

When companies purchase products made from recycled products they create a higher demand for manufacturers to produce even more of those products.  More products being manufactured leads to a higher volume of products that can continue to be recycled to the point where that process becomes the norm and not the exception.

There are many ways to begin the process of only buying recyclable items starting the entire green product use over again.

Start with the vendor – There are many organizations that supply 100% recycled products.  These products from companies like Weisenbach Recycled Products (http://www.recycledproducts.com/) are made mostly or entirely from recycled products and can be recycled yet again upon the end of their lives.

Know the recycled products – A key step in the process of successfully “rebuying” is knowing what products are even available to purchase as recycled products.  Sites such as http://www.ecomall.com/biz/recycle1.htm contains extensive lists of products and companies that provide recycled catalogs of products to purchase.  Knowing what qualifies is an important step to procuring greener inventory.

Start simple – Starting simple in your organization can be as easy as selecting bottled water that comes in 100% recycled plastic bottles that can in turn be recycled again.  This seems like a basic first step and that is because it is, but the fact of the matter is, as mentioned above, that when consumers demand and then continue to purchase products like this, manufacturers will continue to produce them and will in turn employ the process with other products.

Rebuying does close the loop on the Four R’s but it is not the end.  Tomorrow we will talk about all new R’s that are being considered a part of this great new trend.  For more information on SafeSourcing and how we can help you find vendors and products that are associated with rebuying, please contact a Customer Service Representative.

We hope you have enjoyed this week’s series and look forward to and appreciate your comments.

If you thought this page is useful to your friend, use this form to send.
Friend Email
Enter your message