The government should add the purchase of refurbished and second-hand equipment to the green public procurement regulation

Initiative No.2

Initiative published on 21st December 2017.

With this year’s adoption of the government regulation on green public procurement, the contracting authorities, i.e. all budget users (such as ministries, government offices, schools, kindergartens, municipalities, etc.), will have to follow new criteria and rules in the field of public tenders. In the case of public procurement, we have described basic and additional environmental requirements for electronic office equipment, e.g. including highly energy efficient computers.

However, the regulations do not solve the problem of purchasing refurbished and second-hand equipment.

Mitja Bogataj: “We are a registered social enterprise that sells factory refurbished computer equipment. With our work, we contribute to the reducing of electronic waste and protecting the environment. However, when other social enterprises or NGOs inquire about the purchase of our factory restored computer equipment for calls for tender, we all find that, unfortunately, the purchase of refurbished computers is not a justifiable cost, since the tender demands purchasing new equipment. Other public institutions financed by the municipality or the state share similar thoughts on the subject.”

Liljana Brajlih, social entrepreneur: “We should at least have positive discrimination in the purchase of used items for projects cofunded by EU funds. If we exclude investments, most of purchased equipment serves the needs of the project and must be functional, but it does not need to be new. At the end of the project, the (co)financiers are no longer interested in this equipment. We expect changes, so that the grants from the public funds will enable or even prescribe the purchase of second-hand equipment with a lifetime that would span through the duration of the project.”

We notice similar problems when buying furniture or other second-hand objects. Mojca Žganec Metelko: “The number of re-use shops like our “Stara šola” is increasing, some shops even turn old furniture into new furniture of interest to the libraries, schools, public institutions, as it contributes to a sustainable and circular economy, which is one of the strategic priorities of the current government. However, second-hand furniture is not eligible for public procurement, which requires the purchase of new equipment.

Example of ordering second-hand furniture from abroad

In 2016, Public Health Wales moved into new business premises. On this occasion, they decided to offer the contract for the furnishing of the premises to a provider which would assure them with the possibility of renewing the existing office equipment and supply renewed products from various sources. On open day, they manifested their requests and expectations to interested suppliers, explicitly stating, that the company that would use the existing office equipment as much as possible and allow for the supply of renewed products will receive the equipping contract. The winning consortium, which included social enterprises, enabled the delivery of over 2500 products, of which only 6% were new, and rest were processed or renewed, with a significant share of preexisting office equipment. Such a circular approach made it possible for 41 tons of potential waste to become reusable, reducing CO2 production by 134 tons. It is also important to note the fact that this approach meant creating new jobs for people with disabilities and the long term unemployed in the local area.

Summarized from: http://www.cynnalcymru.com/innovation-short-public-health-wales-and-orangebox-save-134-tonnes-of-c02/

In December, the European Commission released a new batch of documents concerning circular economy, and discussions began on how the EU can reduce the consumption of natural resources by keeping the ones we already have in the economy for as long as possible.

The issue goes beyond recycling, starting with repairs and reuse of products, which make a significant contribution to the creation of new jobs, lower industry costs and less waste.

Addendum, 12th February 2018: The content published on http://www.djn.mju.gov.si/sistem-javnega-naročanja/zeleno-jn shows examples of environmental requirements and criteria for particular subjects of public procurement for which green public procurement in accordance with the Decree on green public procurement (Uredba o zelenem javnem naročanju) is mandatory.

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