About the Environmental Purchasing Program
King County’s Environmental Purchasing Policy reflects a long-term commitment to the purchase of environmentally preferable products. In 1989, King County adopted its original recycled product procurement policy in response to overburdened landfills and the need to create markets for newly collected recyclables. Because every purchase has an impact on human health and the environment, the goal of policy is to mitigate these impacts whenever practicable. Environmentally preferable procurement considers multiple product attributes, such as toxicity, durability, recycled content and conservation of resources, in addition to price, performance and availability.
The King County Environmental Purchasing Program (EPP) provides county personnel with information and technical assistance to help them identify and evaluate, and ultimately buy, economical and effective environmentally preferable products and services. In the past year, King County agencies purchased 36 million dollars worth of these products, saving $640,000 compared to the cost of conventional products.
Since 1990, the program has earned awards and accolades from many organizations, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the National Association of Counties (NA Co) and continues to be a central resource for jurisdictions and other organizations across the nation. Last year, program staff continued its integral role in the development of a national membership- based non-profit organization called the “Responsible Purchasing Network” (RPN), serving on the steering committee. After a year and a half of work, the organization was officially launched at the end of November, 2006 and recruited founding members. The group has already published several purchasing guides and King County Environmental Purchasing Program 2006 Annual Report is actively engaged in research and development of a website tool that will debut in 2007, to help purchasing decision-makers identify standards and specifications for the purchase of environmentally preferable products.
The program reports annually on the status of policy implementation and the environmental purchasing accomplishments of agencies. Recycled paper is used for all major government functions, including more than nine million bus schedules annually, tax statements, court forms, pet license notifications, business cards, reports, stationery, and internal printing. Other purchases include: remanufactured toner cartridges; re-refined antifreeze and motor-oil; ultra-low sulfur diesel; biodiesel; hybrid vehicles; bio-based oils; low-VO C asphalt cold-patch; plastic lumber, compost, shredded wood-waste and tire-retreading services. In addition to their environmental benefits, many of these products are more economical than those they replace.
Program success depends on enabling agencies to obtain the benefit of the new opportunities being created in a changing marketplace by supporting them with information and technical assistance. In addition to producing educational seminars on specific opportunities, the program makes extensive use of the Internet, using email to distribute an “Environmental Purchasing Bulletin” and maintaining a website to make information available to agencies, suburban cities, and the community at-large on the environmental purchasing experience of county agencies.
How to Make an Environmental Purchasing Program Work
What is environmental purchasing? Why do it? How do you do it? And after you start the program, then what? This article will attempt to answer those questions, based on our experiences in the King County Environmental Purchasing Program.
King County established a "buy recycled" policy in 1989, which was expanded in1995 to include "environmentally preferable" materials. In 1999, King County agencies purchased $3 million worth of recycled products, saving $500,000. The county also saves money and resources by buying remanufactured and more energy-efficient products.
King County defines "environmentally preferred products" as those that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products that serve the same purpose. This comparison may consider raw materials acquisition, production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation, maintenance, or disposal of the product.
Translation: "What smarter things can we do when we purchase materials? Can we buy products that reduce waste, have recycled content, use less energy, are less toxic, and are more durable? Sure, but why? Environmentally preferred products save money and energy. They’re less toxic, which increases worker safety, and they use materials that would have otherwise been thrown away, which saves landfill space. If good quality products are available at a competitive price, and they have environmental benefits, why not buy them?
So, how do you implement a "green purchasing" program? Here are the necessary steps to buying green, based on our experience in King County:
Make a statement of intent
Reason: Establishes management support and sets priorities
Example: Policy, mission, declaration
Put someone in charge
Reason: Establishes accountability
Example: A coordinator can research products and work with users
Work with departments one on one
Reason: Engages experts in the work that they know best
Example: End users know what they need. Environmental purchasing coordinators can help find products that fulfill those needs.
Start where you are
Reason: What products are you buying for which there are recycled alternatives?
Example: Have a department test and evaluate a new product. Don’t make the decision for them.
Look for products that save money
Reason: We all like to save money, especially tax dollars.
Examples: Toner cartridges (one-third the cost of new cartridges), tire retreading (half the cost of new tires), energy-efficient products.
Have reasonable expectations and reward small accomplishments
Reason: Change takes time. You can’t just say "buy green" and expect it to happen.
Example: When you have changed the buying habits of one person, you’ve succeeded. Build on that and go to the next person.
Network and share information
Reason: Learn from others, and share your successes, even though they may seem small.
Example: King County’s environmental purchasing program has a website and distributes e-mail bulletins to keep in touch with county departments and other jurisdictions. Program staff subscribe to listserves and belong to national organizations.
Collect data and publicize
Reason: Further accountability and information sharing
Example: King County Environmental Purchasing Program’s annual report and web site.Environmental purchasing is a new area, there are many possibilities, and the people who use environmentally preferred products are just beginning to learn about them. Do your homework, bring good products and information to people, engage the expertise and the imagination of the users in the field, listen to concerns, then help them, in any way you can, to use these products. Then, do it all over again, product by product. Each battle is different and the experience gained can be built upon. Before you know it, you’ve become a leader in the environmental purchasing field, and others will be asking you "How did you do that?"
- Written by Karen Hamilton, King County Environmental Purchasing Program
- Originally published in the Pollution Prevention Northwest Newsletter Fall, 1999
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Updated: Sept, 2007
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