Sustainable Purchasing Group Launched to Support the Campus Sustainability Plan
In 2012 Lehigh adopted its first Campus Sustainability Plan. As one of the nine working groups created to support the plan, the Sustainable Purchasing group is focusing on the following efforts as part of the group’s short term goals:
- Paper Management: researching best practices in the paper life cycle, including utilization of paper with the highest possible level of recycled content through final disposition of recycled paper. LTS and Printing & Mailing will be pilot departments for the recycled paper, with rollout eventually across the campus.
- Scanning/shredding: partnering with appropriate vendors who can assist us with storing files electronically, and shredding/recycling the files once scanned, include Lehigh Printing & Mailing Services’ Secure Shredding Service.
- Office Supplies: ensuring Purchasing is providing the University with the most sustainable office supplies at competitive prices.
- Toner: ensuring the campus community continues to recycle toner and ink cartridges in an eco-friendly manner and working with our vendors to procure the most sustainable options.
The group is comprised of staff members from across Lehigh, including University Communications’ Sally Gilotti, Printing and Mailing Services’ Glenn Strause, UBS’s Jane Altemose, Brenda Bachman and Lauren Furrer, Purchasing Services intern Jenna Bono and LTS’s Sharon Wiles-Young.
The group meets every three weeks and is dedicated to moving Sustainable Purchasing initiatives forward. For more information about Lehigh’s Campus Sustainability Plan, please visit http://sustainability.cc.lehigh.edu