Companies can find that their efforts to become more resource efficient are hampered by their relationship with the companies that supply them with services or facilities.
For office-based companies, the recycling facilities, or lack of them, that their landlord provides can influence how they manage their waste and what they can recycle. Similarly, for those companies that contract out services, such as catering facilities, the way the contractor operates these functions might be at odds with what the contracting company might want to achieve.
You can overcome these barriers, by carefully thinking about what you want to achieve from contracts and seek companies that can deliver these objectives. Alternatively consider writing a green contract with clauses that ensure suitable delivery from contractors.
For example, companies seeking office accommodation should ask what recycling facilities the landlord provides. Sub-contractors such as those delivering catering functions could be made accountable for their direct utility use through the use of sub-meters.