Procurement category: Textile products and services
Environmental impacts targeted: This procurement seeks to address the high volume of uniforms that are discarded while still usable, thereby reducing unnecessary waste generation and the strain on natural resources required for uniform production via a tender for the rental and maintenance of re-used uniforms.
Relevant EU legislation/policy/guidance: EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles (2022)
Background
According to its Climate Plan 2030, the Høje-Taastrup Municipality in Denmark has a long-term ambition of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The Climate Plan commits the city to increase its focus on the green transition and reduce CO2 emissions within municipal planning and procurement. More specifically, the city seeks to intensify efforts on the circular economy, both in general and in public procurement. In addition, Høje-Taastrup’s Procurement Strategy sets out general principles and guidelines to ensure that the procurement of goods, services, and works is carried out efficiently, professionally, responsibly, and with the greatest possible focus on sustainability. One such circular procurement took place in 2020 through a tender for the rental and maintenance (e.g. laundering and repair) of reused uniforms for elder- and homecare, dental care and canteen workers.
Procurement objectives
In Høje-Taastrup, the typical length of a uniform rental contract is seven years, after which the previously used uniforms were returned to the supplier and new uniforms were procured. While there was initial scepticism among some Municipal employees regarding the quality of reused clothing, internal dialogues on the positive impacts of reusing rather than buying new and (since procuring used clothing is approximately 50 percent cheaper than purchasing wholly new items) the decision to pass on the money saved directly to the impacted departments convinced colleagues to support the initiative.
Procurement procedure
Before the procurement, the Municipality held preliminary market consultations with the sustainable clothing companies Textilia and Elis to better understand the environmental impacts of current clothing supply procedures. Furthermore, expert advice was sought by Tekstilrevolutionen, an independent think tank which provides advice and facilitates the sustainable transition and circular economy processes in the textile industry.
The procedure led to the signature of a framework agreement for the rental and washing of uniforms for elder- and home care, dental care and canteen workers in the Høje-Taastrup Municipality. The service encompassed the complete handling of the clothes and linen, including collection, sorting, washing, drying, joining, packing and delivery.
A negotiated procedure was undertaken with a specification that as many uniforms as possible of those supplied to the Municipality should be taken from clothing that was previously returned to the selected supplier from other clients whose rental period with the uniforms had already ended, and that damaged uniforms should be repaired rather than discarded for as long as possible. Furthermore, the supplier was asked to have a Nordic Swan or equivalent ecolabel ensuring that the laundry facilities use eco-friendly soap, conserve water and use energy-efficient washing machines. Additionally, 80% of the supplier’s offered range of supply should be OEKO-TEX certified and, as an Award Criteria, more points were awarded to bids offering uniforms certified by accepted ecolabels, such as SA8000, Global Organic Textile Standards, Fairtrade, EU ECOLABEL and/or Global Recycle Standard).The negotiated procedure helped determine the most sustainable strategy moving forward. For example, the Municipality had to agree that work clothes would no longer be branded with logos since that made them unable to be used elsewhere and that workers in different areas would not be dressed in identical wear.
In addition to technical specifications, the call for competition included selection criteria and award criteria concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well as the environment. Award criteria were then evaluated on a scale from ‘extremely satisfying’ to ‘poor’.
The following elements support the Municipality’s sustainable and socially responsible procurement objectives:
| Type of criteria | Performance description |
| Contract performance conditions | The Contracting Authority requested clothes be pooled together where possible. Exchanges and repairs must be carried out automatically by the Tenderer if there is a hole in the clothing. |
| Award criteria | The tenderer is asked to describe how work will be done to extend the life of the clothing. It is positively weighted if the Bidder repairs the uniforms to avoid that they are thrown away |
| Award criteria | The tenderer is asked to describe the cover used over cages with clothing and linen. The tenderer is also asked to describe how the coating is handled and disposed of. It is positively weighted if the Tenderer uses a plastic cover of 25 MY or less, or if the cover can be reused and washed. It is also positively weighted if the Tenderer disposes of the cover in an environmentally sound manner. |
| Award criteria | The tenderer is asked to describe how they work with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is considered positively that the Bidder works with the SDGs that relate to the subject of the contract.
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| Award criteria | The Tenderer is asked to describe how the employment of vulnerable citizens will be integrated into the project implementation. |
Awarding the contract
Two suppliers bid in this negotiated procedure. The Quality, CSR and environmental criteria were weighted at 55% while the price was weighted at 45%. Despite this being the first tender in Denmark for used uniforms as a service, both suppliers were willing to meet the ambitious sustainability requirements and offered the same service. Furthermore, the social criteria regarding the inclusion of vulnerable citizens were equally met by both bidders. Therefore, the lowest price offer was selected.
The six-year contract was awarded to De Forenede Dampvaskerier for EUR 282.000.
Results
A total of 1.100 t-shirts, 1.100 cardigans, 110 chef’s coats and 1.210 trousers were included as the procurement covered 110 out of approximately 1.000 Municipal employees. The procurement resulted in a cost saving of approximately DKK 12 million (1.609.069 EUR).
The Municipality views this procurement as a pilot to test a sustainable solution and plans to replicate this tender to provide used clothing to a greater number of employees. Furthermore, Høje-Taastrup has been disseminating information about this tender through lectures at various procurement-related conferences which has resulted in other municipalities both within and outside of Denmark expressing interest in conducting similar procurements.
Environmental Impacts:
Clothing production requires large amounts of water, chemicals and energy, renting a supply of reused uniforms, rather than newly made ones, could contribute to greater sustainability. In fact, between 8.000 and 12.000 litres of water are used to produce a pair of new trousers and around 2.500 litres of water are needed for a new T-shirt. Therefore, this procurement sought to reduce waste and save resources by supplying municipal employees with reused uniforms.
Through cooperation with the supplier, the Municipality was able to reduce waste generation through both the procurement of used uniforms and the diversion of 3.520 pieces of unusable clothing to local schools where students could work with the fabric. Høje-Taastrup also calculated the estimated water savings based on information from the Textile Revolution. The avoided production of the 3.520 fabrics saved approximately 21.010.000 litres of water and the procurement of rental services of reused clothes rather than the procurement of newly made uniforms for 100 employees corresponds to water saving in textile production of about 10 million litres. Additionally, averting the manufacturing and transportation of new uniforms both saved CO2 and prevented further pollution from fertilisers, pesticides, chemicals and dyes that were not needed to be used.
Lessons Learned
- Conducting preliminary market consultations can generate a better understanding of how companies can help meet sustainability objectives.
- A negotiated procedure allowed for fruitful discussions with suppliers on how to reduce waste as well as CO2 emissions, and resulted in the development of innovative approaches to sustainability (e.g.,the re-imagining of uniforms as a fabric service to be re-used as learning tools in schools instead of just clothing).
- Positive experiences, such as this one, can shift norms and change views about used products.
More information
Høje-Taastrup Municipality - Procurement: https://www.htk.dk/politik/politikker-og-planer/oevrige-politikker-og-strategier/indkoebsstrategi
For related information, please see EU GPP criteria for EU GPP criteria for Textile products and services, the accompanying Technical Background Report and the Procurement Guidelines.
For tender documents, please reach out to the GPP Helpdesk.
