Sources:Canada’s Guideline for Greening Services Procurement, Wal-Mart’s Sustainable Packaging fact sheet, and Public procurements from San José, Halifax Regional Municipality and Trimet.


Multnomah County seeks suppliers who practice sustainability in the packaging and shipping of their products. By reducing packaging, more products can be packed into shipping cartons and more cartons onto pallets. This results in fewer truckloads and a corresponding reduction in the burning of fossil fuels as well as associated harmful emissions. 

To reduce or eliminate the amount of packaging material received, stored and disposed of at County facilities, proposers are asked to outline how they intend to ship goods as described in this procurement to the County, which could include but is not limited to: ships products in reusable, refillable, or returnable containers (e.g. reusable trays or totes, which can be stored and returned to the vendor);  minimized packaging material including the elimination of or reduction of non-recyclable bubble wrap, foam pellets or other like material; eliminating non-essential parts of packaging, such as individual wrapping of components; using packaging materials made with the highest recycled content without compromising quality, including post-consumer recycled material (PCR) where appropriate.

Evaluation criteria: 

The Proposer demonstrates a strategy for reducing or eliminating packaging and shipping materials.