Green purchasing includes the acquisition of recycled content products, environmentally preferable products and services, biobased products, energy- and water-efficient products, alternate fuel vehicles, and products using renewable energy. The White House Task Force on Waste Prevention and Recycling, in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), assists Federal agencies to promote the acquisition of recycled content, environmentally preferable, and biobased products. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and EPA assist agencies to implement the energy-related purchasing requirements.

OFEE and the inter-agency Buy Bio Workgroup are pleased to offer a two-page introduction to green purchasing for purchase card holders. It provides purchase card holders with an overview of the green purchasing requirements for recycled content, biobased, energy efficient, standby devices, and environmentally preferable products.

OFEE and the Buy Bio Workgroup are pleased to offer "Federal Procurement Opportunities for "Green" Vendors." Written for vendors of "green" products, the guide discusses the key acquisition programs and web sites for learning about Federal procurement opportunities, registering in the central contractor registration, registering with the Procurement Marketing and Access Network, and other assistance.

Training
OFEE offers green purchasing training to agency contracting, environmental, and facilities staff. The training primarily addresses purchasing of recycled content, biobased, and environmentally preferable products and also touches on purchasing of energy efficient products. It discusses the legal framework underlying the green purchasing programs, the pertinent Federal Acquisition Regulation provisions, the common myths about green purchasing, the specifics of the green purchasing programs, agency green purchasing examples, and product sources, including mandatory sources. It also provides the URLs for the recycled content, environmentally preferable, and product source web sites.

OFEE and the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine developed a green purchasing train-the-trainer program, which has been presented to more than 30 agency environmental and procurement staff. The program consists of a PowerPoint presentation and an accompanying script. In addition to addressing the units discussed in OFEE's green purchasing training, it covers they types of training to provide to different audiences, compliance, program implementation, and goals and metrics. OFEE and USACHPPM will offer the train-the-trainer program in the future if there is sufficient interest. Please contact Dana Arnold at arnold.dana@ofee.gov if you would like to arrange for a green purchasing or train-the-trainer presentation.

Green purchasing training is available from both public and private sector sources. Following is a non-exclusive list of sources of green purchasing training. Contact these sources to discuss scope of training and costs. In addition, several Federal agencies offer e-training; see the links to Federal agency sites in Related Links.

• Dana Arnold, White House Task Force on Waste Prevention and Recycling, arnold.dana@ofee.gov - buying recycled content products, environmentally preferable purchasing, biobased products, affirmative procurement programs
• Susan Weber, White House Task Force on Waste Prevention and Recycling, susan.weber@ofee.gov - buying recycled content products, environmentally preferable purchasing, biobased products, affirmative procurement programs
• Pat Rippey and Beth Martin, U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, pat.rippey@apg.amedd.army.mil or beth.martin@apg.amedd.army.mil - buying recycled content products, environmentally preferable purchasing, biobased products, affirmative procurement programs
• Richard Langston, U.S. DOE, richard.langston@hq.doe.gov - environmental procurement policy
• Alison Thomas, U.S. DOE, Federal Energy Management Program, alison.thomas@ee.doe.gov - energy-efficient products
• Shabnam Fardanesh, U.S. DOE, Federal Fleet AFV Program, shabnam.fardanesh@ee.doe.gov - alternative fuel vehicles, alternative fuels, energy efficiency, FAST Federal fleet data collection system
• Linda Mesaros, Mesaros Consulting, linmesaros@aol.com - the legal and FAR requirements, buying recycled content and environmentally preferable products, and affirmative procurement with an emphasis on biobased products
• Richard Keller, Maryland Environmental Service, rkell@menv.com - buying recycled content products, recycling contracts, affirmative procurement, environmentally preferable purchasing, waste prevention and recycling
• Scot Case, Center for a New American Dream, scot@newdream.org - environmentally preferable purchasing, affirmative procurement programs, life cycle
• Sandra Cannon, Battelle (U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), sandra.cannon@pnl.gov, environmentally preferable purchasing/life cycle purchasing

Recycled Content Products
Section 6002 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) established the Federal buy-recycled program. EPA designates recycled content products in the Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG) and provides recommendations for purchasing the products in Recovered Materials Advisory Notices (RMANs). The recommendations primarily pertain to the levels of recycled materials that the designated products should contain, but EPA also identifies relevant government and consensus specifications (e.g., ASTM standards). To date, EPA has designated 54 products in the following 8 categories:

• Paper and Paper Products
• Vehicular Products
• Construction Products
• Transportation Products
• Park and Recreation Products
• Landscaping Products
• Non-paper Office Products
• Miscellaneous

To learn more about EPA's program and the designated products, visit http://www.epa.gov/cpg or see the latest Comprehensive Procurement Guideline.

RCRA requires Federal agencies to purchase the EPA-designated products and to establish Affirmative Procurement Programs (APP) consisting of 4 elements: preference program, promotion program, vendor certification of recycled content, and annual review and monitoring. A more comprehensive overview can be found in the Task Force's Model APP.

Many Federal agencies have established web-based affirmative procurement programs and/or have electronic versions of related agency policies.

The Task Force provides information about government and commercial sources of re-refined oil, the retreads qualified by the Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, and the copier paper sources qualified by the Government Printing Office.

Warranties

A common myth is that the use of recycled content products will void equipment warranties. In the case of remanufactured toner cartridges, OFEE consulted both Xerox and Hewlett-Packard and was informed that the use of remanufactured toner cartridges will NOT void equipment warranties. At our request, Xerox sent a voicemail message to all of its service representatives reminding them of Xerox's policy. Hewlett-Packard provided the following information. Please note that it has been the experience of OFEE and many of the Federal agencies that remanufactured toner cartridges have not caused performance or quality problems.

Question: Will my HP printer warranty be voided if I use a remanufactured or refilled cartridge in my HP inkjet or laser printer?

Answer: No. The use of refilled print cartridges alone does not affect either the long-term warranty or maintenance contract purchased from HP for its printing systems. However, if printer damage is found to be directly attributable to the use of a modified or refilled cartridge, the repair will not be covered under the warranty or by the maintenance contract. Standard time and material charges will be applied to service the printer for that particular failure or damage.

As HP has no control over the design and compatibility of non-HP cartridges manufactured by other companies, it is unable to carry the costs associated with the use of other manufacturers' defective units, should they be used in HP printers. Defects can range from print quality issues such as spots, smears, or streaks, failed nozzles and excessive bleed to serious internal damage to the printer itself.

Only HP print cartridges are designed to work with HP printers as a single system, so the use of other cartridges may jeopardize the quality of the output and the reliability of the printer.

In the case of re-refined lubricating oil, many of the vehicle manufacturers have provided warranty statements indicating that the use of re-refined oil will not void engine warranties. Copies of the statements from Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors can be found in OFEE's publication, "Greening the Government: A Guide to Implementing Executive Order 13101," which is available electronically in the Publications section of the OFEE web site.

The Paper Calculator
When a recycled content product costs more than a comparable virgin content product, purchasers can look at the product's costs and benefits over its life cycle. This approach allows purchasers to determine what is the "best value" to purchase. The Task Force joined with the U.S. Postal Service, EPA, and Environmental Defense to create the Paper Calculator"® , a web-based tool to calculate the U.S. average energy and wood consumption and environmental releases across the full "life cycle" of each of five major grades of paper and paperboard. It compares production of virgin paper/paperboard in each grade, and its subsequent disposal in landfills and incinerators, to production of recycled paper/paperboard in the same grade, and its subsequent recovery for recycling.

Greening Highways and Roadways
The buy-recycled provisions in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act apply both to purchases made by Federal agencies and to purchases made by state and local recipients of Federal funds. In February of 2002, to implement the RCRA provisions, the Federal Highway Administration issued a formal policy on the use of recovered materials in highway applications, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/policy/recmatpolicy.htm. It states, in part: "This recycling policy statement is offered to advance the use of recycled materials in highway applications. It is intended to provide leadership, direction, and technical guidance to the transportation community for the use of recycling technology and materials in the highway environment." It memorializes long-standing FHWA policy of supporting the research and development of highway applications for recovered materials.

As part of supporting the use of recovered materials in highway construction and maintenance, FHWA and the University of New Hampshire formed the Recycled Materials Resource Center, http://www.rmrc.unh.edu/. The Center provides research and informational materials, sponsors educational seminars, and serves as a conduit for promoting the beneficial use of recovered materials in highway applications.

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
Executive Order 13101 defines "environmentally preferable" as "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. This comparison may consider raw materials acquisition, production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation, maintenance, or disposal of the product or service."

Environmentally preferable purchasing requires the identification of environmental attributes pertinent to a product or service and the acquisition of a product or service with those attributes. Whereas acquisition of most "green" products looks at a single attribute (e.g., percentage of recycled content, level of energy efficiency), acquisition of environmentally preferable products or services can look at multiple attributes (e.g., recycled content plus no or low emissions of volatile organic compounds). This allows the purchasing agency to tailor its acquisitions to the key environmental attributes relevant to its needs. Thus, for example, water-efficiency might be more important to a facility in the Southwest than to a facility located in other parts of the U.S.

EPA established five guiding principles for environmentally preferable purchasing. Agencies are encouraged to use these principles in conducting pilot acquisitions of environmentally preferable products or services. To date, Federal agencies have conducted more than 30 pilots, ranging from renovation of the Pentagon parking lot and building construction to acquisition of janitorial products or services to the identification of environmentally preferable paints, uniforms, and copier paper. The guiding principles, summaries of the pilots, products and specification information, and an EPP tutorial can be found on EPA's EPP web site, www.epa.gov/oppt/epp.

EPA Issues Final Guidance on EPP.

Green Janitorial Products and Services
Several Federal agencies are now purchasing environmentally preferable cleaning products and services, including the Department of the Interior. For a discussion of DOI's project, visit http://epa.gov/opptintr/epp/ppg/case/doicase.htm. Additional information on green cleaning products, including references to specifications, can be found on EPA's EPP web site.

By buying green products and services from the blind and severely disabled, you can satisfy the requirement to purchase green products and help create jobs for the blind and disabled. The National Industries for the Blind now offers green cleaning products, and the National Industries for the Severely Handicapped offers janitorial services using greening cleaning products. In 2002, the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Program partnered with one of the nation's premier producers of environmentally responsible cleaning chemicals, Rochester Midland, in order to meet customers' increasing demand for high-quality, non-toxic, and safe janitorial cleaning supplies.

Governments Agree on National Criteria for "Green" Cleaning Products

Biobased Products
Biobased products are "commercial or industrial products (other than food or feed) that are composed in whole or in significant part of biological products or renewable domestic agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and marine materials) or forestry materials."

Section 9002 of the 2002 farm bill (Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002) establishes a Federal biobased products purchasing program similar to the buy-recycled program under RCRA. USDA will designate biobased products and provide guidance for purchasing the products with biobased content. USDA also will establish a voluntary biobased products labeling program. USDA plans to designate products in the following 11 categories:

• Adhesives
• Construction Materials and Composites
• Fibers, Paper, and Packaging
• Fuels and Fuel Additives
• Inks
• Landscaping Materials and Composted Livestock and Crop Residue
• Lubricants and Functional Fluids
• Paints and Coatings
• Plastics - Monomers and Polymers
• Solvents and Cleaners
• Sorbents

Many Federal agencies are already purchasing and using biobased products. OFEE encourages all agencies to do so. The Summer 2000, Winter 2001, and Fall 2001 issues of Closing the Circle News report agency acquisitions of biobased cafeteria-ware, biodiesel, ethanol, cleaning products, and compost "tea" for golf courses. Until USDA designates biobased products and establishes the voluntary biobased products labeling program, you can find biobased products by visiting the following sites:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Comprehensive Procurement Guideline Program: www.epa.gov/cpg. Click on "Products;" some of the recycled content products designated by EPA, such as paper products, compost, and hydraulic mulch, are also biobased.

The listing of these web sites should not be construed as an endorsement by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive of any of the biobased products identified on these sites or a guarantee regarding product performance or conformance to USDA's biobased products recommendations.

Energy Star® and Energy-Efficient Products
Green purchasing also includes energy-efficient products, renewable technologies, alternative fuel vehicles, and alternative fuels. The U.S. Department of Energy is the lead agency for these programs, sharing responsibility for the Energy Star program with EPA. DOE's Federal Energy Management Program, http://www.eren.doe.gov/femp/femp.html, provides a wealth of information about Energy Star® products, low-wattage stand-by power devices, other energy-efficient products, water-efficient products, renewable energy, energy savings performance contracts, utility contracts, interactive tools for calculating lifetime energy cost savings for products covered in FEMP's popular product efficiency recommendations, other tools for buying energy-efficient products, and training materials.

DOE's Alternative Fuels Data Center, http://www.afdc.doe.gov/, is a one stop shop for all your alternative fuel and vehicle information needs. This site has more than 3,000 documents in its database, an interactive fuel station mapping system, listings of available alternative fuel vehicles, links to related Web sites, and much more.

Federal Acquisition Regulation
Part 23 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provides policy and requirements for acquiring the EPA-designated recycled content products (Subpart 23.4), environmentally preferable and biobased products (Subpart 23.7), and energy-efficient products and renewable energy (Subpart 23.2). The FAR also provides that energy and environmental factors must be considered during acquisition planning (Part 7), including defining the government's needs (Part 11). The buy-recycled requirements apply to acquisitions of commercial products (Part 12), to simplified acquisitions (Part 13), and to acquisitions with the government purchase card (Part 13). Also review agency supplements to the FAR for agency-specific requirements regarding green purchasing. Go to http://www.arnet.gov/ to view an electronic version of the FAR. Click on the links below for:

Federal Acquisition Regulation: Requirements Supporting Procurement of Recycled Products and Environmentally Preferable Services

OMB Memo on FAR Implementation of Greening the Government Executive Orders

Environmental Labeling and Marketing Claims

Labeling and environmental marketing can be effective tools to assist with the eventual behavior change of an intended audience. They can be one means to the end result of a more informed audience. They are potentially powerful information tools, but they are also only one implementation tactic of an overall policy strategy.

It is important to note there are multiple types of labeling strategies, some of which work more successfully than others, depending upon the specific policy directives and the circumstances or needs of a given audience. One critical step is to ensure that the information provided is scientifically and factually accurate, as well as relevant and meaningful for a given audience's decision-making.

The information contained in this web site explores some existing work on labeling by pointing to references on:

How to identify the types of labeling and environmental marketing strategies and policies that are used in the marketplace both by government and others, under what conditions various types of labeling are best deployed, and what type of program can be used for an intended end result. Selected existing government guidelines and voluntary consensus standards that may be applicable. Some recent consumer (consuming public and federal purchasers) market based research that reveals information about purchasing-related attitudes, perceptions, actual behaviors, and motivations.

This information is not a complete compendium; rather, it is a selected collection of reference materials that could help in development of new labeling policies, practices, and programmatic strategies. Those interested in this information may be involved in developing or implementing policies and strategies designed to reach institutional purchasers, retail consumers, and others.

Purchasing from Mandatory Sources
National Industries for the Blind, NISH, and Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) offer recycled content, biobased, and environmentally preferable products or services. For more information, go to http://www.jwod.com and http://www.unicor.gov.

Many small businesses also sell green products. More than 2,000 small business offering EPA-designated recycled content products can be found in PRO-Net, the Small Business Administration's electronic directory, www.pro-net.sba.gov. In the future, PRO-Net will list small businesses offering other types of green products.

Leasing
GSA revised its Solicitation for Offer (SFO) for leases to incorporate waste prevention, recycling, and green acquisition clauses.

For further information see:
GSA's Energy, Environmental, and Sustainable Design in Lease Acquisition

Federal Facilities Compliance Guidance

Federal Facilities Compliance Guidance

Federal Agency Green Purchasing Links

Department of Agriculture

• www.usda.gov/energyandenvironment
• www.usda.gov/procurement

Department of Defense

• http://www.denix.osd.mil -- DoD Affirmative Procurement
• click "Public Menu"
• click "DUSD(ES) Programs"
• click "Pollution Prevention"
• look under Affirmative Procurement
• Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) Affirmative Procurement
• Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) Factsheet on Environmentally Preferable Products & Services and Federal Procurement Policy
• U.S. Army, Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Affirmative Procurement
• Department of Defense EMall
• Department of Defense Green Shopping Catalog, EPRO

Department of Energy

• http://www.eh.doe.gov/p2/ -- DOE's Affirmative Procurement Program (APP) guidance (both current and draft revised), Strategic Plan, Secretarial policy memos, a Point of Contact list for DOE sites showing the designated Recycling Coordinators and Green Acquisition Advocates, and DOE's reporting results on a site-by-site basis for each CPG product (where we're over the $10,000 threshold) and for DOE as a whole for the last four years, plus lots more!
• http://professionals.pr.doe.gov -- DOE Procurement Environmental Home Page, especially designed for DOE procurement professionals.
• DOE's Greening the Government, Acquisition and the Environment Presentation (.PPT, 2MB)

Department of the Interior

• http://www.doi.gov/oepc/ -- DOI's strategic plan and information about re-refined oil.
• http://www.doi.gov/pam/97-2.html -- Department of the Interior Acquisition Policy Release (DIAPR) 97_2
• www.nps.gov/renew -- The National Park Service's "greening" web site, includes a toolbox with lists of recycled content and energy efficient products, links to NPS and DOI policies, and links to DOI, EPA, DOE, and White House Task Force on Recycling web sites.

Department of State

• http://www.statebuy.gov/green.htm -- includes purchase card training, training on buying green, a sample solicitation for purchasing green janitorial products, and links to EPA, GSA, and DOE web sites.

Department of Transportation

• http://www.dot.gov/ost/m60/earl/chap1223.htm#appen23a -- DOT's Affirmative Procurement Program, including links to the TAM.
• http://osam.ost.dot.gov/recycling.htm -- DOT's Recycling Web Site, includes links to the Recycling Information Manual, DOT M 5670.1, DOT's E.O. 13101 Affirmative Procurement Program Guidance, and the DOT Strategic Plan to Implement E.O. 13101.

Department of Treasury

• http://www.treas.gov/procurement/policy/policy.html -- Treasury's Affirmative Procurement Program and related links, including the Procurement Instruction Memorandum creating the Treasury APP, DTAR, and Treasury Directive on waste prevention, recycling, and acquisition.

Department of Veterans Affairs

• http://www.va.gov/oa&mm;/recycle/index.htm -- links to information on buying recycled content, Energy Star, energy efficient, and environmentally preferable products; VA's affirmative procurement, recycling, waste prevention/pollution prevention programs; and training materials.

NASA

• http://environmental.ksc.nasa.gov/recycle/intro.html -- includes links to NASA headquarters web page, which includes the Affirmative Procurement Plan; the Kennedy Space Center web page, which includes the NASA Environmental Strategic Plan; and other facility recycling and environment web pages.

Key Federal Government Sites

The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled

The Council on Environmental Quality

Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network

Department of Energy - Federal Energy Management Program

Department of Energy - Office of Pollution Prevention

Department of Energy - Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse

EPA's Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines and Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (CPG/RMAN)

EPA's Environmental Preferable Purchasing (EPP)

EPA's Enviro$ense

EPA's Region 8 Environmentally Preferable Purchasing -- Selling Products and Services to the Federal Government

EPA's Wastewise's Federal Welcome Center

Federal Prison Industries/UNICOR

Federal Trade Commission's Guide to Environmental Marketing Claims

Planet GSA Website

Re-refined Motor Oil from Defense Supply Center Richmond

Recycling Equipment from Defense Supply Center Philadephia

SBA's Procurement Marketing and Access Network (Pro-Net)