Strategies and Best Practices

Green Purchasing: Green purchasing includes the acquisition of recycled content and environmentally preferable products. "Environmentally preferable" includes the purchase of materials that result in no waste, less waste, or less toxic waste. A number of environmentally preferable products are now offered as substitutes for traditional cleaners, degreasers, paint strippers, pesticides, solvents and more. These substitutes, such as microbes, aqueous-based cleaners, and steam cleaners, often focus on using natural agents and processes in place of toxic chemicals.

Redesign: Products can be redesigned to include less packaging, extend their life span, make them reusable, easier to repair or recycle, or use less toxic materials.

Practice Modification: Technological advances and research have made the greening process much simpler and more cost effective than ever before. Alternative processes have been developed to do everything from dry cleaning to developing pictures to decontaminating nuclear equipment. For example, bulk purchasing, email, and double sided copying can reduce the generation of paper and paper packaging wastes.

Reuse of Products, Materials and Containers: The reuse of materials is a common method of waste prevention. For example:

• Reselling used durable goods-appliances, carpeting, furniture, etc.-and non-durable goods-clothing, footwear, textiles, etc.-
• Donating to charitable organizations.
• Using washable cups, napkins, plates, towels, utensils and diapers instead of buying disposables.
• Using reusable air filters and coffee filters.
• Using remanufactured toner cartridges, retread tires, and other remanufactured or rebuilt products.
• Reusing shipping materials, including reconditioned steel drums and barrels.
• Effective pallet management. [hyperlink] The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 6 million tons of wooden pallets were reused in 2000.
• Reusing containers such as bags, boxes, bottles, and jars.

Organic Material Management: Organic material management has grown significantly in the past decade. Onsite composting is easily the most common example of waste prevention, though other methods are increasing in popularity such as using mulching mowers and xeriscaping, a form of landscaping that minimizes water use and uses organic mulch.