Penn’s Green Purchasing Awards, presented by Penn Purchasing Services and Penn Sustainability, were announced at the annual Purchasing Services Supplier Show on September 25.

The award program recognizes the outstanding contributions of an individual or team that significantly advance the development of sustainable purchasing practices at Penn.  

“With Penn’s dedication to environmental sustainability, it’s important to acknowledge the outstanding contributions being made at the University. We work in a decentralized purchasing environment with daily buying decisions that are made at the department level,” said Mark Mills, executive director of Penn Purchasing Services. “Given this model, it’s important to recognize our colleagues in the Schools and Centers who have embraced sustainability in their purchasing choices. Our 2018 honorees are making smart, responsible purchasing decisions and instituting new programs—many of which can be shared and repeated across the University.”

The first 2018 award was given to the School of Nursing’s One Less campaign team. A series of green gifts were chosen for faculty and staff and distributed at the school’s annual Service and Recognition Awards event. This all-volunteer team worked on- and off-duty to design the logo and reach consensus on the choice of this year’s reusable items. Among them were small tote bags, which can remove disposable plastic bags from the waste stream, and reusable travel mugs, which can eliminate 23 pounds of waste annually per person using them. The team negotiated with the school’s café operator to provide an ongoing discount to anyone who uses those travel mugs (or any reusable cup), incentivizing members of the community to make a green purchase daily. The award recipients included Patricia Adams, Lucia DiNapoli, Olivia Duca, Joseph Gomez, Karen Keith-Ford, Theresa Lake, Holly Marrone, Seymour Sejour and Meredith Swinney.

The second award recipient was the Furniture Reuse and Recycling team from SAS. The team created a system that strives to divert used furniture from landfills. The process begins by creating a monthly inventory of all used furniture available in the School. The inventory is then circulated for review to SAS’s building administrators and departments. Then the list is sent to the Netter Center for Community Partnerships—reaching dozens of charity partners who may be able to reuse furniture listed on the inventory. Furniture that cannot be reused within SAS or by charity partners is recycled by Revolution Recovery. Revolution Recovery is able to divert over 80% of SAS furniture that has reached the end of its useful life from landfills. In the last four quarters for which program metrics are available (FY17 Q4-FY18 Q3), SAS has diverted 20.86 tons of furniture from landfills. That is an 88.8% diversion rate overall. The honorees from the SAS team are Jonathan Burke, Carvel Camp, Floyd Emelife, Brittany Gross, Ruth Kelley, Ryshee McCoy and Isabel Sampson-Mapp. 

Both initiatives align with Penn’s Climate Action Plan 2.0, the University’s comprehensive strategic roadmap for environmental sustainability. For more information about the recipients, visit www.upenn.edu/purchasing