Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 60.52
Liaison Lindsey MacDonald
Submission Date March 1, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Western Washington University
OP-11: Sustainable Procurement

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.25 / 3.00 Seth Vidaña
Director of Sustainability
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have written policies, guidelines or directives that seek to support sustainable purchasing across commodity categories institution-wide?:
Yes

A copy of the policies, guidelines or directives:
The policies, guidelines or directives:

Excerpt from Vendor Code of Conduct:

"The University is committed to purchasing products and services whose environmental impacts are found to be less damaging to the environment and human health. The University expects suppliers to continuously develop price competitive and safe products and services that help us achieve our environmentally preferred purchasing objectives."


Does the institution employ Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) when evaluating energy- and water-using products and systems?:
No

Which of the following best describes the institution’s use of LCCA?:
---

A brief description of the LCCA policy and/or practices:
---

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating chemically intensive products and services (e.g. building and facilities maintenance, cleaning and sanitizing, landscaping and grounds maintenance)?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for chemically intensive products and services:
---

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating construction and renovation products (e.g. furnishings and building materials)?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for construction and renovation products:

Subject to Washington State policy defined in the Governor’s Executive Order 05-01. This order calls for construction of publicly funded buildings over 25,000 gross square feet to be “built and certified to the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Standard, or certified by the Department of General Administration (GA) to an equivalent standard."


Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating Information technology (IT) products and services (e.g. computers, imaging equipment, mobile phones, data centers and cloud services)?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for IT products and services:

As required by state law under RCW 43.19.539, the Department of General Administration has established the following purchasing preferences for electronic products: 1) Purchasing activities will purchase gold rated EPEAT registered electronic products.When gold rated products are not available, are not life cycle cost efficient, and do not meet reasonable performance standards; the purchasing activity may acquire silver rated electronic products. Information including a searchable product registry on EPEAT-registered computer products is available at 68.168.250.188/EPEATwp/ . 2) Purchasing activities will acquire RoHS compliant electronic products; provided such products are available, are life cycle cost efficient, and meet reasonable performance requirements. RoHS compliant electronic products must carry the RoHS label or indicate in its product literature that RoHS requirements have been met. Information about RoHS requirements can be found at www.rohs.gov.uk. 3) When acquiring electronic products that do not have an EPEAT ranking or a RoHS certification, the purchasing activity must grant a preference to those products with the least hazardous materials. The purchasing activity may consider other product environmental certifications in their award criteria if the result would reduce or eliminate hazardous materials. 4) Agencies are encouraged to consult with their representative from DIS to identify the most current best practices used to extend the life of electronic equipment. This will minimize the environmental impact of hazardous materials in electronic products.


Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating food services (i.e. franchises, vending services, concessions, convenience stores)?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for food services:
---

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating garments and linens?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for garments and linens:
---

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating professional services (e.g. architectural, engineering, public relations, financial)?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for professional services:
---

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating transportation and fuels (e.g. travel, vehicles, delivery services, long haul transport, generator fuels, steam plants)?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for transportation and fuels:
---

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating wood and paper products?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for wood and paper products:

In 2009 The Washington State Legislature passed a House Bill requiring each state agency to:

-develop and implement a paper conservation program to reduce use of printing and copy paper by at least 30 percent of the current use.

-develop and implement a paper recycling program with the goal of recycling 100 percent of all copy and print-paper in all buildings with 25 employees or more.

-use 100 percent recycled-content white cut sheet bond paper. Copy paper for use by departments, computer labs and the copy centers is centrally purchased and distributed by Central Stores. Purchasing is first and foremost based on the OFM guidelines and secondly from state approved or university approved and contracted vendors.

-OFM has established contract # 09205 with Office Depot for the supply of copy paper to state agencies.

(Info taken from Paper Conservation Act of 2009.)


Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating products and services in other commodity categories that the institution has determined to have significant sustainability impacts?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for other commodity categories:
---

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.