The circular economy is about more than just recycling. It is about fundamentally rethinking products and systems: smart design, extending the lifespan of products, reusability, the ability to be disassembled for repair and replacement, product-service combinations, supporting different consumption models based on shared use ...
Objectives
- Integrate sustainability criteria - where relevant - in new or renewed framework agreements, so that social, ecological and economic criteria play a full role in all phases of the purchasing process.
- Aim for a maximum extension of the current average lifespan of ICT equipment, either through internal processes or in North-South cooperation.
- Reduce waste and collect selectively to enable reuse and recycling.
- Avoid packaging waste and single-use materials or replace them with reusable materials.
Milestones achieved
- Sustainability requirements in tender documents, such as:
- cleaning and laundry (additional social and ecological requirements for cleaning products),
- furniture and office materials (products made from FSC-certified materials or recycled plastic),
- printed matter, posters, flyers, paper (100% recycled, vegetable-based inks, lower weight),
- PCs and laptops (TCO Certified label).
- Guidelines for selective collection, sustainable and waste-free events, sustainable catering, to reduce environmental impact in laboratories, etc.
- Collaboration with Close The Gap, Recupel and the Ghent Repair Cafés for the collection of discarded servers, laptops and cell phones.
Actions 2025-2028
- In selection guidelines and/or specifications, Ghent University focuses primarily on the legal requirements (or sector-specific regulations, e.g. collective labor agreements, environmental standards, certificates, etc.) that a service provider must meet. These are also carefully studied and followed up in the tendering procedure. Where there may be a demonstrable impact on the achievement of sustainability objectives, these will be included secondarily in the selection or award criteria. This will be part of an upscaling of the quality level of the purchasing process in the coming years.
- Wherever sustainability goals and cost efficiencies can be achieved, there will be an even greater focus on joint purchasing. Purchasers from the university services and faculties will be involved in defining the assignment of supplies or services in the specifications.