Circular linen and work clothing

Zorg Leuven uses circular award criteria for its company textiles

Zorg Leuven wants to embed circularity in the framework agreement for the sustainable rental and maintenance of linen and work clothing.

Zorg Leuven entered into a dialogue with the sector about this, because circularity depends on cooperation with all partners in the chain.

It specifically concerns flat linen and the work clothing of the care providers, cleaners, logistics and technology staff, and the maintenance of residents’ personal linen.

The project covers the procurement procedure from the preparation phase, with market prospecting, assessment of legality and feasibility, drawing up the contract documents, assessment of applications and tenders, and conformity assessment at start-up. The possibility of circular procurement was also looked at.

Before the contract documents were issued, several strategic workshops were held to establish the circular and sustainable goals. In function of these goals, the market was then surveyed through a formal request for information, followed by one-on-one interviews with providers. The procurement procedure was in 2 stages, where initially the focus was on selecting the most mature candidates. The award was therefore partly based on the capacity to carry out this circular assignment. The selected suppliers then received the contract documents. During the second stage of the procedure, tenderers were able to distinguish themselves by delivering more circular value. This was assessed via the circular award criteria. Thanks to the strategic focus in the contract documents and the detailed preparation, the procurement procedure went smoothly.