11 Questions for a Sustainable Cleaning Supplier

If your current supplier can't answer at least eight of these questions, you probably don't have a sustainable janitorial product supplier.
Instead, you have a supplier who put the word "sustainable" on their marketing.

That distinction matters more than it used to.
Since 2026, UK packaging rules under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mean businesses pay the full net cost of managing their packaging waste, with fees now linked to how recyclable that packaging actually is.

The Procurement Act 2023 is doing something similar on the buying side, rewarding suppliers who can prove their green credentials in a tender rather than just claim them.

If you run a multi-site cleaning contract, both of those changes land on your desk sooner or later, usually as a question from a client or a finance director that you can't answer because your supplier never gave you the data.

This is the list a sharp procurement or operations lead should be working through before renewing any janitorial supply contract, whether that's with the supplier you've used for ten years or one you're meeting for the first time.

1. Can you show me your delivery data, not just your delivery promise?

Every supplier will tell you they deliver on time, but fewer will show you the actual number.
Ask for their on-time-in-full percentage over the last six months, across all sites, not just your account.
If they can't produce it in the meeting, they're not tracking it, and if they're not tracking it, they can't improve it.

2. What's your real number for back orders?

"Zero back orders" is easy to say, but hard to prove.
Ask what percentage of orders shipped complete last quarter, and what happens to the small number that didn't.
A supplier with a genuine handle on stock will have both figures ready. One who doesn't will change the subject to "usually" and "typically."

3. Can you give me EPR-ready packaging data for every product line?

Since EPR fees became linked to recyclability in 2026, the material, weight, and recyclability of every piece of packaging your supplier sends you are no longer just environmental details. It now hits your cost line.
Ask whether they can hand over that data by SKU, not just for their best-selling products. If they can only give you a general statement about their commitment to sustainable facility maintenance supplies, they haven't done the work.

4. Will you help with my Scope 1, 2 and 3 reporting, or just send an invoice?

Your supplier's deliveries, their manufacturing, and the goods you buy from them usually sit inside your own Scope 3 emissions, the hardest category for most businesses to measure because it depends on data other companies hold.
A supplier who understands this will offer emissions figures tied to what you actually order.
One who doesn't will talk about their own net zero target and leave your reporting gap exactly where it was.

5. Are your green claims independently checked, or did your marketing team write them?

There's a difference between a certified standard like ISO 14001 and a paragraph on a website that nobody outside the company has verified.
Ask which of their sustainability claims are backed by an external audit or accreditation, and which are self-reported. A supplier confident in their own numbers won't mind the question.

6. Can you keep the same standard across every site I run, not just my head office?

Multi-site contracts live or die on consistency. It's easy for a supplier to look brilliant at your flagship building and patchy everywhere else, particularly on eco-friendly cleaning supplies, where the greener alternative sometimes only gets stocked at the accounts a rep visits in person.
Ask how they guarantee the same product range, pricing and service level at your smallest site as your biggest one.

7. What's your actual plan to cut single-use plastic, with dates attached?

"We care about reducing plastic" isn't a plan.
A target year, a current percentage, and a next milestone are a plan.
Ask for the roadmap in those terms and see whether they can produce one without reaching for a brochure.

8. Who's making, packing, and delivering what I buy, and are they paid properly?

Sustainability isn't only about the product. It's also about the people in the supply chain behind it.
Ask whether your supplier is a Real Living Wage employer, and whether that standard extends to the people driving the vans and packing the boxes, not just head office staff.

9. When something goes wrong, who do I call?

Every supplier is easy to deal with when nothing's broken. Ask what happens when a delivery is missed, a product is faulty, or a site manager has an urgent problem at 7 am before a client walkthrough. You want a named contact and a clear process, not a generic customer service inbox and a promise of a callback.

10. What have you actually changed in the last two years, not what's on the roadmap?

Ask for three specific things the supplier has changed, launched, or fixed in the last two years, and how they know it made a difference.
A supplier serious about being a genuinely sustainable janitorial product supplier, rather than just claiming to be one, should be able to answer this without pausing.

11. Can I speak to another customer like me, today?

Not a hand-picked case study with a stock photo and a quote nobody can verify.
A real reference, ideally running a similar number of sites to you, who'll take a call and tell you honestly what it's like to work with this supplier day to day. If that's not on offer, ask yourself why.

Bulk cleaning product procurement decisions get made under time pressure, and it's tempting to renew with whoever's easiest rather than whoever's best.
But the suppliers who can answer all 11 of these questions without flinching are the ones who'll still be a safe bet in three years, when EPR fees have gone up again, when your next client asks for Scope 3 data before signing, and when "we're sustainable" stops being enough on its own.
Take this list to your next supplier meeting, ask the questions, then decide.

Want to put all 11 questions to us directly?
Get in touch with the Foremost team and see how we answer.

Ask us
Facebook
X
LinkedIn