As a school, your procurement contracts may be organised through your trust or by East Sussex County Council. You should find their policy about sustainable procurement on their website.
East Sussex County Council Environmentally sustainable procurement policy
If you are reviewing your own procurement policy, you may find this article useful from the Education Buying website.
Eco Schools provides a sustainable procurement template.
For services delivered by Lewes District Council, you can find their sustainable procurement policy here.
As a school you are at an advantage by being surrounded by a community who cares about you. Take advantage by reaching out and asking for unwanted resources or help. Use sustainability as the reason. This also supports behaviour change within the wider community.
You can find a Library of Things to borrow from in Newhaven and Lewes.
To save waste, set up a shop with collected unwanted school uniform, stationery, and books. Students could help manage the shop or ask the PTFA for support.
Pick up tips from this article – We are teachers – how to start a school shop.
Toolkit for a school uniform shop.
Read the many reasons why this is important – article by Shop Local UK
Lewes District Council is showing the positives of investing in it’s Community wealth building strategy
Lewes District Council has embraced a community wealth building approach to its work. This is about ensuring that local people and the local economy are placed at the centre of how the council operates, and how we work with our partners. We will continue to work with key local institutions; our county council, local businesses, police and NHS partners (anchor institutions) to change procurement practices to focus on local providers where possible. We aim to provide more local employment through all of our activities. We will support the development of social enterprises and identify where additional social value can be achieved in local communities.