On this Earth Day, let's consider how procurement can blend financial prudence and meeting environmental policy goals into actionable strategies. Here are five topical sourcing principles that provide a practical path to where sustainability truly pays dividends. First, look beyond price tags with total cost of ownership. Upfront costs are easy to compare, but do they tell the full story? A total cost of ownership assessment factors in everything from energy use and maintenance to end-of-life disposal. Longer lifespans lower replacement costs. Goods backed by repair or refurbishment programs often outlast cheaper alternatives, reducing the frequency and expense of reorders. Reduced disposal fees. Contracts that require vendors to reclaim or responsibly recycle their products cut landfill charges and administrative handling. and stable, predictable operating costs. Energy-efficient equipment smooths out utility spend by using less power and buffering your entity against market price swings, meaning that your annual budgets are far more reliable. So embedding these total cost of ownership considerations can reveal the actual and complete cost to your budget. Second, include renewable options, rechargeable, reusable, remanufactured. So of course, we all like having the new only preferences. but including options for renewable methods allows you to assess the true value of the new only and the possibility of having multiple methods. So for rechargeables and refillables, from batteries to cleaning supplies, choosing reusable formats can provide some interesting alternatives. And then remanufactured items such as refurbished copiers, servers, or other physical devices can deliver the OEM-grade performance at steep discounts. So when your specifications encourage or require alternatives to new only, you can assess the markets more thoroughly and challenge some of your assumptions about if there's only one way to solve the problem. Optimizing inventory replenishment. So ordering inventory not when it feels right, but based on forecastable bands yields several benefits. First, maximizing volume leverage by grouping orders within optimal bands You unlock better price tiers and shipping rates. Second, minimize excess stock. Lower stored inventory means less warehousing, fewer write-offs for obsolescence and smaller disposal events, and reduced costs of procurement. Less frequent and more impactful replenishment reduces the amount of small-form purchasing that procurement is expected to perform. So an informed replenishment model cuts capital tied up on the shelves and reduces the environmental impact of frequent, smaller deliveries. Four, keep going digital. Cut the paper, time, and cost. Digital procurement and ERP platforms are more than back office systems. They're lean management enablers. More procurement competition, enabling fully electronic sourcing and vendor interactions levels the playing field between large and small businesses. And it directly encourages more vendors to invest the time and effort to give you competitive alternatives. Aligned approvals, automated workflows, Slash the time for manual sign-off delays and inter-office transfer costs. And virtual documentation. E-invoicing and e-catalogs eliminates printing, archiving, and courier fees. So rolling out these processes throughout government operations reduces both waste and administrative headcount. And then five, strengthen the value of regional sourcing. Every mile saved in delivery is fuel, time, and cost kept on the table. So for those commodities which have a transportation element, request the transportation costs to be exposed. What's the impact? It shrinks logistics overhead because shorter routes means fewer shipments, lower freight bills, and the reduction of risk and supply chain disruption. Two, builds local capacity. When transportation is taken into account, it drives local impact. that recirculates through community payrolls and small business growth, and it enhances responsiveness. Regional suppliers can often turn emergency orders or rapid restocks around faster than distant counterparts. So exposing the transportation costs and sourcing not only provides new negotiation opportunities, but it also strengthens the economic fabric of your jurisdiction. In summary, it's up to us to thoughtfully blend environmental impacts with bottom line benefits while navigating the turbulent times impacting today's public operations landscape. So let's drive strong local economies and deliver low total cost of ownership for our agencies and departments, and then ultimately the citizens that they serve.