Graham Roberts, until recently the regional director for indirect procurement at Motorola, has had a bit more time to think of late. And while some of that has been taken up with decorating, the vast majority has been spent on understanding the vast array of sustainable procurement opportunities out there.

When did you last strip the wallpaper? In my case, it was 20 March 1999 – I know, because the date was neatly written on the dining room wall by my son who, aged four, first recorded for posterity his height, age and latent artistic skills.

As I sat back and reminisced I recalled the saying “whatever you’re doing now it won’t be the same in five years time”. Well, if we take those ten years since I last did this most mundane of jobs, procurement as a profession has developed beyond most people’s imagination.

Since the turn of the Millennium, we have witnessed revolutions in eSourcing, eProcurement, eInvoicing, reducing year-on-year costs and now carbon emission reduction, corporate responsibility policies and the rise and rise of the green agenda. How, though, has the background to these initiatives changed and our thinking changed with it? Does it really matter anyway?

It was by scraping back these layers that I began to understand a new world of opportunity in sustainability which to this point had been obscured by a thin covering of rather dull wallpaper…

So, for those of us in procurement, maybe now is our time.

There is a growing trend to drive sustainable procurement by compelling suppliers to adhere to an even more comprehensive set of terms that already existed by requiring them to sign up to environmental, antidiscrimination, humane treatment of workers, anticorruption and unfair business practice clauses?

While this is an excellent start, why not consider a new level of interaction with suppliers? For example did you realise that several local governments offer free advice? Or that there are new startup’s which specifically aim to produce goods from recycled products or waste, which can be ideal for those green marketing gifts. And why not save money by buying back your own recycled paper?

When, as a procurement professional, one starts to think about it, the opportunities for improving the sustainable procurement practices of your organisation start to jump off the page. Did you realise that there is multimillion-euro market in recycled PC’s? There are suppliers who are compliant with the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive (WEEE) and meet reuse standards set out by European governments.

In a recessionary environment small to medium, as well as many large, suppliers are struggling to survive and maintain positive cash flow because large corporates get into the habit of paying later and later in order to sustain their own cash flow. Is this sustainable? Some UK government local authorities are endeavouring to pay invoices of £2,000 or less on immediate terms to help struggling businesses through these difficult times. Is it right for large corporates to do the opposite?

Just as stripping off wallpaper reveals a wealth of opportunity, so too does the green revolution. Sustainable procurement will hold out hope, not only of saving your company money and helping the planet, but to open a new way of thinking about how we interact with suppliers in the future.

So, I’d like to set a challenge. Strip away the thinking of the past and decide on three things that you will do in procurement during 2009 to help advance the green revolution in your organisation.

Myself? I’m going to save cost and reduce my cycle time by heading to the local DIY store to source a steam stripper – hopefully they source recycled carrier bags!

To contact Graham visit his website at www.migreenmachine.com