Procurement

In keeping with the College’s sustainability initiatives, the Procurement Office strives to purchase from environmentally responsible vendors and purchase items produced through environmentally responsible means. It is our preference to purchase post-consumer recycled or bio-based products, carbon-neutral products, and those products that may otherwise minimize negative environmental impacts, whenever possible.

Office Supplies

The College strives to maintain sustainability practices within office supply procurement. We have selected recycled copypaper as our campus standard and participate in ink and toner recycling through our vendor partner, WB Mason. WB Mason offers a variety of environmentally environmental products for college users to choose from that support our sustainability practices.

Facilities Maintenance

We aim to purchase facilities maintenance supplies that are safe for our campus community and our planet. We look to purchase the following whenever possible:

Cleaning products and supplies that meet U.S. EPA safer choices, Blue Angel, Cradle to Cradle, ECOLOGO, EU Ecolabel, or Green Seal certifications.
Cleaning products that are biodegradable, phosphate-free, low VOC content, reduced packaging, and low in life cycle energy use.
LED bulbs for lighting fixtures.

Electronics

E-waste, or electronic waste, is gaining more attention as a major environmental issue in the 21st century. We aim to do our part in reducing harmful E-waste by pursuing electronics that are EPEAT registered and/or Energy Star certified. For Hamilton-purchased computers, we partner with CCNY, an R2 certified local vendor who recycles those items.

Vending

Hamilton provides vending machines in many buildings across campus, including academic buildings and residence halls. In an effort to save on energy and encourage best-practices in recycling. We aim to provide the majority of aluminum cans in vending machines (which have more recycling value than plastic) and conserve refrigeration energy in vending machines wherever possible.