British Holiday and Home Parks Association, David Bellamy Conservations Awards

British Holiday and Home Parks Association, David Bellamy Conservations Awards

Purchasing Policy

Purchasing Policy

As you will have realised reading the rest of these briefing notes, you can do an awful lot of good for the environment by buying the right things – whether its an energy efficient boiler or a seed mixture of local native wildflowers. It therefore makes sense to think about greening your purchasing policy as part of your environmental work. Remember to buy ‘green’ products for your business use and offer them to your guests and residents through your on-site shop. A lot of this ground is covered in the other sections of these notes, but please use the following table as a reference whenever you go to the cash-and-carry. Remember to also check out the environmental credentials of your suppliers – consumer pressure is a great catalyst for improvements. Large companies should be accredited to the environmental management standard ISO 14001.

Of course the greenest form of purchasing is not to purchase at all – see the waste management section for more ideas on waste reduction, but why not offer your guests and residents a re-usable bag (with your park logo on it) as a good starting point?

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Food:

  • Try to use, buy and advertise locally-produced foodstuffs.
  • For animal products think about welfare issues and choose ‘free-range’ etc.
  • Go organic, or ‘conservation grade’ and stock a range of these products in your park shop.
  • Use similar criteria for the food in your café or restaurant and demand the same from your suppliers/contractors.
  • Stock ‘Fair Trade’ products in your park shop.

Other products:

  • Choose the most energy and water efficient products you can afford.
  • Where possible buy recycled and recyclable products such as paper towels and office stationery.
  • Use environmentally friendly cleaning products and other chemicals wherever possible and stock these in your on-park shop.
  • Stock energy-saving devices (e.g. compact-flourescent light bulbs in your on-site shop).
  • When specifying wood products, use products from sustainable sources (e.g. FSC-certified) or alternatives such as products made from recycled plastics

More information:

  • Click here for an in depth article on green purchasing, complete with examples of what parks are doing.