> Buying Force and ISO14001

Our environmental credentials/concerns are at the heart of everything we do. Buying Force achieved UKAS ISO 14001 accreditation in 2009, and have successfully passed external audits every year since to ensure continuing compliance. We developed an Environmental policy which states our commitment to continual improvement through environmental objectives, both for Buying Force and for our listed suppliers. We set targets around our waste, energy efficiency and our transport emissions, as well as ensuring awareness among our staff and suppliers about key environmental issues.

We encourage all the suppliers going through the Buying Force accreditation process to work towards ISO 14001. As we know that this is not practical for all suppliers, we also monitor our suppliers carefully through our in-house environmental assessment process. Suppliers are questioned on their environmental policies and procedures, communication, resources and training, and are required to submit evidence to demonstrate how policies and initiatives are implemented. From the questionnaire results suppliers are benchmarked against each other to encourage improvement. The minimum benchmark is increased annually to drive performance among our suppliers.

We are passionate about replicating our environmental values throughout our supply chain and in the suppliers that we accredit through the Buying Force process.  We continually review our procedures to make sure we champion improvement in everyone we work with.