Purchasing
Vision 
Every purchasing decision has an environmental impact. The University of Victoria supports locally made/grown and environmentally responsible suppliers and products wherever possible. And we use our purchasing power to advance sustainability outside of the university's borders by encouraging environmentally and socially responsible practices with our suppliers and the community at large.
Sustainability action plan goals:
- Utilize a quadruple bottomline framework (people, planet, profit and socio-cultural) for major purchasing decisions by 2010.
- By 2012, establish a regional or provincial sustainability purchasing initiative to incubate ideas and support for sustainability purchasing policies and practice.
- Serve fair trade certified products that are readily available (coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar etc.) in 100% of food outlets on campus.
- Design purchasing agreements that accommodate different sizes and types of businesses.
- Increase purchasing of local goods and services.
Learn more about environmentally responsible purchasing at UVic on our Supply Management Objectives, or by chosing a section below and going to UVic Purchasing Services.
Paper
In early 2008 the University of Victoria's paper standard became 100% post-consumer recylcled content waste for all bond paper supplies. In making the switch from 30 per cent post-consumer waste content, UVic became the first university in BC to make the commitment to using 100 per cent recycled paper stock.
Food Services
UVic is well known for its sustainable food purchasing practices which include supporting local farmers and other food producers, and other suppliers of sustainable food including organic and fair trade:
- All coffee sold on campus at various outlets is organic and fair trade certified, as is most tea and chocolate.
- All eggs purchased come from "cage-free" farms.
- Fruits, vegetables, baked goods, milk, cheese, eggs, and poultry sold on campus at various outlets come from local farmers and suppliers whenever and wherever possible (supply and prices permitting).
- All salmon is caught wild, not farmed.
Our napkins are made from 100% recycled content paper and are completely compostable, as are our coffee cups, veggie-based cutlery, take-out containers and even our straws!
Learn more about our sustainable food purchasing practices on our Food page.
Bookstore
The UVic Bookstore is leading by example when it comes to sustainability. Not only can you purchase “UVic Gear” that is made out of bamboo and/or organic cotton, but you can rest assured that bookstore staff monitor suppliers to ensure clothing is sweatshop free. In addition, the bookstore carries a whole series of EarthFriendly School Supplies and reusable mugs. Beautiful reusable shopping bags are available for $.99 (a plastic bag will cost you $.05).
With the highest percentage of used textbooks in bookstores across Canada, and increasing the availability of electronic text books and textbook rentals, the UVic Bookstore is reducing and reusing before recycling! It also offers a whole range of free e-books. Learn more at the UVic Bookstore site.
Office supplies
UVic has standing agreements with local suppliers of low dollar value office supplies and equipment that are committed to reducing trips to campus by consolidating orders and offering delivery box return programs. See Grand & Toy "Boomerang" box program and Monk Office Supply.
Furniture
UVic's office standard furniture comes from Calstone's line of environmentally friendly furniture with a zero waste manufacturing process.
We have other strategic alliance contacts with approved furniture suppliers that offer furniture made from renewable resources like wood certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) or with recycled materials from other industries, like 100% recycled polyester to name a couple. All of our manufacturers are committed to the health and wellness of their clients and the worlds’ environment and produce products that are Green Guard Certified and or manufactured in factories that are certified with ISO 14001. More & more research and development is going into commercial furniture and we are seeing real cradle to cradle programs from manufacturers where they take back their products and recycle them on our behalf or the products can be easily disassembled to allow our staff to then recycle accordingly.
Green Computing
UVic sources computer equipment and other electronics that are the most energy efficient on the market. Our standardized laptops, workstations and monitors from Dell and Lenovo are all all EPEAT Gold certified.
See University Systems and Printing Services for more information. Used equipment is collected and sent to recycling facilities in BC through our e-waste asset program.
