| Summary: | Green Procurement is defined as taking into account environmental criteria for
goods and services to be purchased in order to ensure that the related
environmental impact is minimized (Incite Sustainability, 2008: vii).An inherent
feature of green procurement is the integration of environmental
considerations into purchasing policies, programmes and actions (Stigson &
Russell, 1998:9).
The European Commission states that green public procurement should
ideally cover areas such as the purchase of energy-efficient computers and
buildings, office equipment made out of environmentally sustainable timber,
recyclable paper, environmentally-friendly public transport, organic food in the
cafeteria, electricity stemming from renewable energy sources and air
conditioning systems complying with environmental solutions(European
Commission, 2004:5). The International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives (ICLEI) recommends the inclusion of the construction of new
buildings, restoration and renovation as well as the purchase of building
material as one of the areas that have to be addressed when developing
green procurement policies.
The City of Tshwane Municipality (CoT) intends to move towards a green
procurement practice. The City plans to attain the latter without deviating from
the intentions and parameters of the South African Government’s
procurement legislation and further more within the limits of its current budget
constraints. The intention of the study was to investigate the feasibility of a
green procurement practice in the CoT and to give special attention to low
cost housing. The results of the study suggest that it is feasible to implement
the practice. The City of Tshwane was found to have relevant and progressive
policies in place and what was found lacking was the application and
integration of the policies into existing programmes. Green procurement
barriers that the CoT will have to overcome were identified as awareness,
motivation, economic, legal, institutional, information and technical barriers.
The study concludes with recommendations to the CoT with regard to
potential opportunities the City can take advantage of when implementing a
green procurement practice. === Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.
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