The Local Government Procurement Awards celebrate those procurement professionals or groups who are making a difference in local government and their community. 

The Award ceremony took place at the Annual LGP Conference Dinner on Thursday 18 October 2018.

Congratulations Lake Macquarie City Council who took home the Award and the $2,500 going towards professional development training. 

Lake Macquarie City Council submission was for its regional market development for recycled glass sand. The project is engaging a number of councils throughout the Hunter region whereby lake Macquarie have shared their findings and promote and encourage other councils to use the product in civil construction. Lake Macquarie is trying to create an industry which will benefit the local community and economy. 

It is a closing the loop project whereby lake Macquarie aims to purchase and use at least an equivalent amount of glass sand each year in its own projects and operations as what it generates annually through the kerbside recycling service.

Sustainable Procurement Scorecards

The Sustainable Choice Annual Survey has now closed and the Sustainable Choice team is busy analyzing all of the data. Performance reports and Sustainable Procurement Scorecards will be sent out before Christmas. 

For those who participated in this year's survey, your performance report and Scorecard will provide you with a health check against the ISO 20400 Sustainable Procurement Guidance standard. All participants will be offered an opportunity to go through their report with Sustainable Choice over the phone in the new year. 

If you have any questions, please  contact us.

Sustainable Choice has had a very busy year and we hope all our members have enjoyed being part of the program and have found the resources and events useful. We would like to thank those members who have already renewed their memberships for 2019 and say a big welcome to our newly joined members. 

We are continuing the recycled content focus in 2019 and are currently planning our three Sustainable Choice Forums. We have some great speakers and case studies lined up. There will be two regional forums and one Sydney based. We are excited to announce that the locations will be:

North Sydney - 8 May 2019 

Wollongong -  4 June 2019

Dubbo - 20 June 2019

Please stay tuned for more details and agenda. 

Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) Creating a Circular Economy for Tyres

TSA (Tyre Stewardship Australia) is engaging with Local Government in two ways to achieve the goal of a circular economy for tyres. One is via knowledge sharing of commercially viable and community beneficial uses of recycled tyre derived products in local infrastructure products. The second is market development work that includes real world testing of new and existing tyre derived products and the establishment of national specifications for some of the most common uses.

TSA has in cooperation with the Australian Asphalt Pavement Association (AAPA) been working with various roads bodies to develop new national specifications for Crumbed Rubber Modified (CRM) asphalt. CRM asphalt can offer better drainage, reduced noise, improved rut and crack resistance and reduced maintenance cycles. Rubberised spray seal has further delivered durability, better drainage and noise reduction.

The new national specifications for open graded (OGA) and gap graded (GGA) applications plus the use of crumbed rubber spray seal could eventually see nearly 10 percent of the accessible tyre derived crumb rubber produced in Australia consumed in domestic road manufacturing. That equates to nearly 4 million end of life tyres per year.

Testing of the new national specifications for CRM are already underway, with trials happening on the Gold Coast. The specifications will also facilitate further nationwide demonstration trials of CRM asphalt.   

For questions and more information, please contact:

www.tyrestewardship.org.au
Jan Van De Graaff
0408 398 219
jan.vandegraaff@tyrestewardship.org.au

Smart Approved WaterMark and Smart Water Advice

Smart Approved WaterMark (SAWM) is the label for water efficiency products and services in Australia and Europe. The purpose of the Smart WaterMark scheme is to help consumers identify products and services that can help them to save water. www.smartwatermark.org

The mark is awarded to products and services that demonstrate water savings and or efficiencies. All claims are assessed by an Independent Technical Expert Panel. 

Smart Water Advice (SWA) is a water efficiency resource for councils and water utilities. It is a resident-ready professional water efficiency resource that includes over 35 pages of web content, factsheets, postcards, plant finders, playlists, videos and more.

Smart Water Advice removes the need for each council or utility to develop water efficiency resources independently, provides resources to those organisations who do not have a dedicated water efficiency team and those who do not have the time to produce such resources.

For further information contact chris.philpot@smartwatermark.info

Strengthening Sustainability in LGP Contracts

Sustainability criteria has been incorporated into all LGP contracts renewed in 2017 and 2018. The criteria for each RFT was tailored to address those sustainability risks and opportunities specific to each contract and was mandatory and weighted. Supplier responses to sustainability criteria are included in the 'Buyer's Guide' associated with each contract, enabling councils to make better informed decisions and purchase more sustainable products and services.

• Playgrounds, Open Spaces, Modular Structures, Exterior Lighting, Recreational and Associated Infrastructure (LGP308-3)
• Bitumen, Emulsions and Asphalt Materials and Services (LGP213-2)
• Traffic Management Services (LGP113-2)
• Waste Audit Management Services (LGP118)
• RFT10.07-3 Office Supplies and Janitorial (including; Heavy Duty Cleaning) and Associated Products

Online Resources

Sustainable Choice has a comprehensive range of online resources for Sustainable Choice members. These resources include guides, fact sheets, case studies, example documents and useful links. Recently added online resources for Sustainable Choice members include:

• Sustainability Risk Rating Tool
• Example Sustainability Heat Map - Construction and Asset Maintenance & Operations
• Example Tender Sustainability Questions Addressing Recycled Content and Packaging Waste Reduction
• Case Study - Recycled Glass Sand - Lake Macquarie City Council

Sustainable Choice Database

The Sustainable Choice Database makes the search for sustainable products and services easier for you. The expansive online database lists sustainable products and services, from energy-efficient lighting to recycled furniture and infrastructure products, paper and printing, road base, catering and events supplies. Sustainability indicators have been incorporated into the database to help you identify why a product is considered to be more sustainable than another in order for you to choose the most appropriate for your needs and budget. You can access the database at www.sustainablechoice.lgp.org.au

If you know of a sustainable supplier that isn’t listed on the database please let us know and we will contact them. Similarly if there is a particular product you are looking for and cannot find it on the database please let us know.

Suppliers new to the database:

Barrier Signs Pty Ltd - Traffic signage

Ironbark Demolition Pty Ltd - De-construction of road and rail bridges

Citiscape - Aluminium posts and environmentally friendly fencing solutions

ISO 20400 Sustainable Procurement Training

Sustainable Choice are excited to announce that we delivered our first training course outside of NSW to Townsville City Council in Queensland on 17 October.

It was a very successful day with a group of highly motivated individuals. Some of the feedback received was:

''Genuinely engaging session - very practical. Thoroughly enjoyed it and motivated to continue our journey''

''An extremely well presented session. Hands on and very engaging. Well done''

''Excellent well thought out course. I learnt a lot. Content was interesting and engaging''

''An engaging, thought provoking session. Thank you''

If you are interested in finding out more, please see or contact us.

Interesting Reads

Below are links to some articles and websites relating to sustainable procurement that we think you may find interesting/useful.

Circling in on sustainability

Funding boost to expand NSW coffee cup recycling

Tyre waste to screech to a halt in Toowoomba

Call to mandate electric vehicles in government fleets

From German trains to South Korean buses, hydrogen is back in the picture

Western Australia's new waste to energy plant

Merry Christmas

The Sustainable Choice team would like to wish you a very happy and safe Christmas. We look forward to working with you in 2019.

Sustainable Choice Team

Tania Lalor - Senior Sustainable Choice Business Manager (Mon-Wed)
Sara Lindqvist - Sustainable Choice Business Manager (Wed-Fri)

T:  02 8270 8703
E:  sustainablechoice@lgp.org.au