Government sustainability initiatives: The need to commit to cost-effectiveness

The Federal Times blog has posted up some interesting pictures from last week’s General Services Administration (GSA) Expo, which The Refinishing Touch team also attended. We’ve been working in the government sector for over thirty years now, and while it’s true that public opinion, general awareness and Obama’s green government agenda has helped to prioritize the review and adoption of sustainable processes and purchases, we think there’s still a need to both talk about and commit to cost-effectiveness.

One of the challenges faced in the public sector involves reviewing and setting budgets according to actual spending levels. In order to encourage positive changes, there need to be clear incentives for adopting more efficient methods of maintaining and managing assets, while ensuring there are no budgetary penalties for prudent reuse and refurbishment.

In the US we have a total estimated national debt of $12.9 trillion and counting, while the total non-federal public sector debt is thought to be approximately $3 trillion. In the face of these numbers it might seem a minor consolation to encourage reuse, recycling and modification of furniture assets across public sector organizations, however the needless trashing and replacement of assets is undeniably a contributory waste of both the planet’s and the government’s resources. Sustainability simply makes good financial, operational and environmental sense, whatever the scale.


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