Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 May 2021
359. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the details of the information his Department collates as per circular 20/2019 (details supplied); the date this report was issued; the location on his Departmental website at which it can be found; and the progress in relation to green procurement that has been made to date. [25426/21]
View answerGreen Public Procurement in Department of Children, Equality, Diversity, Integration and Youth
The Department’s ambition in relation to Green Public Procurement is to reduce its impact on the environment by introducing measures to reduce its carbon footprint in order to achieve the goals set out in the Climate Action Plan.
This is strategised in our Corporate Procurement Plan (approved by Secretary General in June 2020) where we have pledged to include Green Procurement measures where possible during a procurement process.
Since 2019 we have improved our environmental impact by:
- Single Use Plastics: DCEDIY has ceased purchasing single use plastics since January 2019 under the Government directive to reduce its carbon footprint and cut down on waste management.
- Wooden stirrers for tea/coffee: The Department stopped using wooden stirrers to reduce its compostable footprint. The introduction of steel spoons reduces its waste footprint.
- ICT equipment: All ICT equipment used is reused and recycled. Lexmark collect toner cartridges that the Department no longer requires and recycles them.
- A ‘Green Team’ is being established to promote and encourage sustainability within the Department
- The Procurement Unit maintain a contracts register and database for all procurement documentation where we can monitor all contracts that have been awarded within the Department. All RFTs are proof-read by the Unit before being published on eTenders, this allows us to monitor whether Green Public Procurement has been included in the specification where possible.
To date, the DCEDIY 2020 Annual Report has not been published and therefore is not available on the DCEDIY website.
