The background
The Dutch Railways (De Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS) has ambitious goals in terms of the circular economy. The 2030 goal is to achieve full circular procurement, maximal reuse of materials and to create no waste at offices, workplaces and trains. In addition to existing initiatives (reuse of train parts, the Upcycle Shop and circular work clothing), there is a need for support to reduce non-commitment among buyers and to further embed circular purchasing in daily practice.
Context
At the moment, NS is already working towards its ambition by, for example, procuring products, looking critically at how products are put together, and the possibilities as well as the necessity of reuse. In addition, NS is gaining insight, for example, by measuring circularity using the Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) methodology of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). NS uses the related CTI-tool to gain insight into the circularity of materials used for certain products and product groups.
The question
Support us to develop the knowledge and competencies of NS employees in terms of circular procurement and the application of circular principles in day-to-day practice. Make this concrete through intensive guidance and coaching in procurement processes, and use this to inspire the organization.
Current situation and future
To help the NS employees develop in every aspect, we started with a ‘demonstrate’ phase – an introductory teaching/training. After that, we walked through a number of tender processes together in an ‘imitate’ phase. The goal was get NS employees to a point where they could get started with circular procurement themselves (‘do it yourself’), using the methods and approaches they learned.
The process
Initially, we determined together which tender processes were the most interesting from a circular perspective. Then we got started with a variety of trainings, based on our ‘circular procurement in 8 steps’ methodology. The ‘do it yourself’ part of the development was further supported by a menu with concrete tools for integrating circularity into tenders.
The results
Together, we have increased the awareness of the impact of circular procurement, by providing many examples and insights, including gathering them from NS in practice. People in various parts of the organization have started integrating circularity concretely in their work, for example in tenders and (circular) construction and real estate.