Circular economy and procurement policy at Brighton & Hove City Council
Who was involved in this project?
ORBIS procurement: A partnership between Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC), Surrey County Council, East Sussex County Council
Roles & Responsibilities:
- Sustainability and Social Value Procurement Managers
- Carbon Neutral 2030 Programme Manager
- Sustainability Projects Officers, Greener Futures team
- Environment Team Manager
What was the aim of the project, and what is/was the project timeline?
BHCC had a Sustainable Procurement Policy in place that was due for annual review. The other two local authorities did not have policies in that space as of yet but there was a programme ORBIS wide called “Policy through Procurement” which had the aim of addressing this.
The BHCC Sustainable Procurement Policy included both environmental and social value elements. It was decided it would be best to divide this into two distinct policies, as all three authorities had different approaches to social value but the same environmental aims, and incidentally this would also help with BHCC’s ambition to allocate a quality weighting of minimum 10% to each sustainability and social value in all tenders.
Work began on a common policy, led by Surrey County Council, using the environmental elements of Brighton & Hove City Council’s Sustainable Procurement Policy, and shifting the focus to a policy aimed at influencing supplier behaviour.
A new policy called “Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy” was drafted, reviewed and eventually adopted by all three local authorities.
Circular economy principles are intrinsic to the policy, and addressed under the “prevention of pollution” and “sustainable resource consumption” sections.
Project goals: Enshrine circular Economy principles in the Council’s procurement policies.
Timeline: September 2021 to October 22.
Web link: Orbis Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy (brighton-hove.gov.uk)
Why was the project created?
Evidence for project need:
- Public authorities embracing circular procurement is fundamental for the transition to a circular economy, as it will increase demand for reusable, repairable and durable products and services.
- There was a need for a unified regional approach to simplify understanding for suppliers. A lot of focus was on recycling alone rather than the whole waste hierarchy. All three authorities adopting the same policy with a strong focus on circular economy would send a strong message to the supply base.
- Whole lifecycle thinking when purchasing products can generate cost savings in the future. Currently, the focus is on the upfront cost, but does not take into consideration disposal costs.
Expected value: Prevention of pollution, better use of resources, waste reduction, long-term cost saving to local authority, benefits to the local environment and local residents.
How was the project implemented?
Cost: Internal resources only.
Compliance: Committee/cabinet approval.
Monitoring: Policy published on all three council’s websites and reviewed annually.
Results
Impact: Inclusion of a 10% ‘environmental sustainability’ quality criteria in all relevant tenders at BHCC.
Lessons learnt: It took over a year to get the policy approved by all three councils, which was longer than we expected, mainly due to the amount of governance this had to go through. However, it is a real result that we have a common policy covering such a huge area of the South East. Collaboration was key but there was a real appetite to see this project succeed from three council administrations.
Risks: The main risk of the policy is that some industries are more mature that others when it comes to operating in an environmentally sustainable way and adopting circular economy principles. It is important to accompany the policy with resources to help local SMEs to adapt to the policies asks. We were able to point them to a Project called Locase for example (Low Carbon across the South East), as well as the Clean growth platform, which both help local SMEs manage their carbon footprint.