Experiences with greening suppliers. The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

This paper explains the strategy and procedures followed by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) to spread green purchasing practices throughout its administration and supply chain, highlighting the identified barriers against their implementation and monitoring, and showing the actions carried out to overcome them. The university's green supply chain management has been analysed in five selected case studies: office material, recycled toner cartridges, fair trade coffee, reusable glass bottles and catering services. These cover the wide range of purchasing patterns currently taking place at UAB taking into account both the acquisition model (directly or indirectly through contracted firms) and the supply chain management perspective (linear or loop). A comparison of the different cases is carried out and some general rules are created that should be investigated further.