Second-hand office furniture, refurbished telephones, photocopiers from re-use… The individuals who make Vinted so successful do not have the prerogative of responsible purchasing. Constrained by legislation, in particular by the anti-waste law for a circular economy, companies and communities are also getting started. It is even, according to the Responsible Purchasing Observatory, a basic trend, further amplified by current events. “The energy crisis is pushing companies to take an interest in this subject,” says Nathalie Paillon, director of studies and operations within the Observatory, during the social and solidarity economy fair in the Paca region. which was held Thursday in Marseille.
Minimize negative impacts
“The momentum is there,” she continues. Nearly 9 out of 10 organizations have at least begun to engage in this process. But what is a responsible purchase? “It’s a purchase that has a favorable impact on all societal and environmental issues, and that goes beyond the vision of the price,” says Ludovic Zékian, of the business mediation service offered by the Ministry of Finance. “It’s the purchase through which we will reduce the negative impacts as much as possible, over its entire life cycle”, adds Nathalie Paillon, for whom three levers are essential: the product we buy, the supplier of the product, and the relationship with said supplier, into which, for example, payment terms enter.
The responsible purchasing approach is based on a charter and a label. “Companies often come to see us because the responsible purchasing rating lowers the overall CSR (corporate social responsibility) rating,” continues Nathalie Paillon. The extent of the subject of purchases is obviously not the same whether you are a large company, an SME, a public authority or a small entrepreneur, but all these actors are represented in the labeled and label candidates. And the second-hand market is “a real problem” believes Nathalie Paillon, who notes that “more and more organizations only buy refurbished mobiles, this has taken on an unparalleled boom”. There remains the question of “sourcing” responsible vendors. At this stage, a directory is not yet on the agenda.