Sustainable purchasing practices: An investigation into current industry awareness and practice.

This research study illustrates the growing importance of sustainable purchasing practices and answers two important questions: what is the current awareness of U.S. organizations on sustainable purchasing practices with regards to evaluating, selecting, and retaining suppliers and to what extent are these practices being implemented? The research conducted is based upon an in-depth literature review of green purchasing and sustainability initiatives. With an ever increasing global economy with no intention of slowing down it is ever important to look towards sustainability practices and the biggest impact organizations can make is in the purchasing department. The researcher begins by explaining their reasoning for conducting the research, then builds the readers understanding of sustainability and supply chain management, so as to dive further into the subject of how sustainable purchasing can be the most advantageous method to bringing about triple bottom savings to an organization. This section is followed by the researcher’s methodology and ending results that show the current awareness and implementation of U.S. plumbing, heating, cooling and piping (PHCP) manufacturing and distribution firms who participate in sustainable purchasing practices (SPP)