Tracking

Tracking the purchase of environmental products is the most difficult part of the job. Tracking is complex because products are purchased using a variety of purchasing systems: purchasing cards, purchase requests, purchasing agreements, sub-contracts, etc. We need to gather data from each of these systems.

To gather data from a sub-contract, the requirement for the sub-contractor to report (what to report and due date) needs to be built into the contract and purchase agreement.

To gather data from purchasing card and purchase request purchases, we have two possibilities: suppliers can track for you or you can track using your organization's purchasing system software. Both have advantages and disadvantages. When suppliers track, they will capture accurate data but will not be able to capture the CAP: the cost, availability, and performance justified exceptions why your staff were not able to purchase certain products with the specified attributes. Also, some small businesses are sometimes challenged to track and report each and every product purchased. When your organization tracks, you usually can capture the CAP but suffer from the "garbage in garbage out" principle. Typically when the purchaser tracks, it relies on the person (perhaps hundreds of purchase card holders) to reliably denote whether the product they purchased contained the specified attribute or not.

When tracking the justified exception purchases (products your organization was not able to purchase with recycled/biobased content), be sure to document those exceptions. Such documentation might be needed should your site be audited for compliance with environmental purchasing requirements.