Green purchasing poster: four questions

The cheapest waste to handle is the one you never buy. Green purchasing puts four questions in front of any purchase, from cleaning chemicals to a new machine: do we need it at all, what is its impact over its whole life, what is the supplier doing about its own impact, and what facts do we have. The four follow the basic principles of green purchasing published by the Green Purchasing Network in Japan. This poster puts them on one page for the people who buy.

Download the poster

The PNG is free to download now. The print-ready vector PDFs open after a short form, once.

Download PNG (300 dpi)2550 x 3300 px, prints at 8.5 x 11 in · 353 KB · no form

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Green purchasing poster — 24 x 36 in18 x 24 inA2A3LetterA4PNG 300 dpi

The words on the poster

Before you buy

Four questions for any purchase, from gloves to a new machine.

Do we need it? Could we reuse, repair, share or buy less?
What is its impact over its whole life? Energy and water in use, hazardous content, how long it lasts, what is left as waste.
What is the supplier doing? Their environmental system, take-back, less packaging.
What are the facts? Energy use, recycled content, safety data sheet, end-of-life route.

Cheapest to buy is not always cheapest to own. Count energy, waste and disposal too.

On the floor

How to use it

Putting the Green purchasing poster: four questions poster to work

1
Hang it in purchasing, the stores and wherever purchase requests are approved.
2
Add the four questions to the purchase request form for consumables and equipment.
3
Start with the items you buy most: cleaning products, packaging, gloves, oils.
4
Pair it with the free life-cycle cost analysis template and the waste hierarchy poster.

Where the poster goes and how to teach with it, in the order to try them.

Which size to print

24 x 36 in or A2: a main wall or team board, read from a few metres away.
18 x 24 in or A3: a station or notice board. The A3 file also fits 11 x 17 in paper.
Letter or A4: a clipboard, binder or handout, on any office printer.

Every PDF is vector, so it stays sharp at full size. Nothing runs to the edge of the page, so no bleed is needed.

Sources and notes

Green Purchasing Network (Japan), Basic Principles of Green Purchasing: consider need, life-cycle impact, the supplier's environmental efforts, and environmental information.