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Environmentally Preferable Purchasing, August 21, 2008
List of Resources and Read Aheads
- Hands-On Tools, US EPA
- Database of Environmental Information for Products and Services, US EPA
- Green Purchasing Guides, US EPA
- Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP), California Integrated Waste Management Board
- What is Environmentally Preferable Purchasing?, Green California
- Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Tools, King County
- Environmentally Preferable Purchasing, American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
- Environmentally Preferable/Green Purchasing, Northeast Recycling Council (NERC)
- Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN)
- New American Dream
- Green Purchasing, Office of Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE)
Green purchasing, green procurement, environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP), buying green, green shopping – by any name we call it, it is enjoying a resurgence of, if not a new high, in attention from the media, industries, government agencies, and citizens. What's that all about?
Green purchasing is buying products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. Green purchasing includes the acquisition of recycled content products, other environmentally preferable products and services, biobased products, energy- and water-efficient products, alternate fuel vehicles, products using renewable energy, and alternatives to hazardous or toxic chemicals. The environmental impacts apply over their lifecycle from extraction of raw materials, through manufacturing, packaging, distribution, use, reuse, operation, maintenance, and disposal. To become a savvy green purchasing official you need to know which EPP practices will reduce a product's or service's effect on the environment and how to measure results.
This Webinar will focus on two areas:
Products and Accessibility
Where are we headed? What attributes of green are the most environmentally preferable? Are there standards? Where do you go to get products and how do you know they are really "green"? Is one green attribute better than another? How do you tell which is preferable?Policy & Program – Massachusetts' successful EPP program
What do you need to have in your EPP Policy, Program and Measures? Do people use it? How do you report on your purchases? What tools do you need for an effective EPP program?
Speakers
Chris O'Brien, Director, Responsible Purchasing Network
Chris has played a lead role in developing and expanding the Responsible Purchasing Network to become a nationally recognized and rapidly growing membership organization. He has twelve years of experience working to promote corporate responsibility and has served as Director of both the Co-op America Business Network and the Fair Trade Federation. In 2006, Chris authored an award-winning book on corporate responsibility and sustainability in the brewing industry.
Presentation: Green Purchasing Standards & Resource Conservation (PDF) (20 pp, 571K, About PDF)
Marcia Deegler, Director, Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Environmental Purchasing, Operational Services Division
The primary goal of the Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) Procurement Program is to use the Commonwealth's purchasing power to reduce the environmental and public health impact of state government and foster markets for EPPs. Marcia has been with the EPP Program since it's inception in 1995 and has been instrumental in growing the success of this interagency effort on many levels, including tracking over $150 million in EPP procurements during Fiscal Year 2007.
Presentation: Purchasing in Shades of Green: Steps to Building Your Program (PDF)(17 pp, 623K, About PDF)