Ó An Roinn Caiteachais Phoiblí, Seachadta ar an bPlean Forbartha Náisiúnta, agus Athchóirithe; Oifig um Sholáthar Rialtais
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The Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment, Ossian Smyth, today (Tuesday 14 December) welcomed the launch of a new Framework Agreement for the Supply of Multi-Purpose Office Paper for Printing and Photocopying.
All items in the product catalogue have been produced from sustainably managed forests or recycled fibres and clients can choose to purchase paper made from 100% recycled fibres.
The Framework incorporates all the relevant Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria as set out in the Irish GPP criteria for Paper products and printing services. This is one of the 10 sets of criteria accompanying the updated Green Public Procurement Guidance for the Public Sector launched by Minister of State Ossian Smyth in September this year. This means that a public body can be confident that purchase of any of the paper offered on this Framework is compatible with GPP.
Minister of State Smyth said:
“I am really pleased to see this Framework launched as it represents an important step towards increasingly sustainable procurement. I look forward to further Frameworks that make it easier for public bodies to reduce their impact on the environment and encourage buyers to choose sustainable options where possible.
"The recycled office paper is available via direct drawdown and is now cheaper than buying unrecycled paper. This is a clear win for public bodies to achieve value for money and reduce their carbon footprint”.
CEO of the Office of Government Procurement, Paul Quinn said:
“The OGP is pleased to launch this Framework which offers contracting authorities the option of purchasing recycled paper more cheaply than non-recycled. As an organisation, the OGP is aware of the power that it holds in promoting environmentally-friendly Frameworks and so we are delighted to be able to offer public bodies an easy and cost-effective way of making more sustainable choices.”
The previous version of this Framework also offered recycled paper options, but less than 1% of the paper purchased from the Framework was recycled paper. At 2019 purchasing volumes, if every contracting authority using the Framework switched to only purchasing recycled paper, this could result in estimated savings of over 3.6 kilotonnes of CO2 emissions and 4.6 kilotonnes of waste, over 17 GWh of energy, and 85 million litres of water*.
-Estimated using https://www.papiernetz.de/informationen/nachhaltigkeitsrechner/ - note that paper is not produced in Ireland, and these values are indicative
The Irish GPP criteria for Paper products and printing services include criteria for procuring:
The criteria relate to legal and sustainable sourcing of fibres, minimising use of energy and water during production, and avoidance of the use of chlorine and chemicals of considerable environmental concern.
The OGP issued a Supplementary Request for Tenders (SRFT) under its Multi-Supplier Framework Agreement for the Supply of Multi-Purpose Office Paper for Printing and Photocopying. The SRFT required that all paper supplied must be produced from pulp sourced from accredited sustainable forests certified by the FSC or PEFC. The SRFT also included other environmental requirements that related to minimising energy and water consumption during production, not using chlorine gas for fibre bleaching, and not containing REACH Candidate List Substances of Very High Concern in concentrations greater than 0.1% (w/w). The procurement process thus included all core and comprehensive Irish GPP criteria.