1998 Annual Report - Section IV. Supporting Program Elements
IV. Supporting Program Elements
IV. Supporting Program Elements
The Environmental Purchasing Program helps agencies develop practical ways to use
recycled and other environmentally preferable products and processes. It does so through
several program elements, which are detailed in this section.
Agency Liaison Network
The program provides agencies with information on environmentally preferable products
and processes through a network of liaisons, which it uses to share evaluation results and
specifications between agencies. This helps agencies to create new evaluation
opportunities and revise contract administration procedures to institutionalize the
routine use of these materials.
The number of employees in the County has nearly doubled in the past three years, due
to the assimilation of agencies formerly housed within the METRO organization. Now, with
over 12,000 employees, it is necessary to establish new liaisons and renew existing ones
in reorganized agencies.
Internet Information Project
The communications capacity of the Internet is bringing great changes to the way this
program delivers information to its clients. This annual report, for example, is being
distributed principally through e-mail, with only a few paper copies being produced. The
program delivers virtually all of its information to clients through email or the
world-wide-web.
- World-Wide-Web
-
- The King County Environmental Purchasing Program has maintained a "web-site"
on the world-wide-web since 1995, as a resource to participants in the King County program
as well as others in the community.
-
- Municipalities and other organizations throughout the nation are beginning to recognize
the difference they can make to the environment by purchasing environmentally preferable
products. Thanks to the leadership of King County agencies, purchasers are able to use the
Internet to find information that will help them understand their opportunities in this
confusing new area. Over 40,000 visitors have visited the Program web-site in the past
year. People from all over the world are taking advantage of this site and these contacts
are bringing new information that County agencies, suburban cities, and others can use as
we all try to develop new applications for recycled and other environmentally preferable
products.
-
- Visitors to this web-site find information on King County's experiences with recycled
and environmentally preferable products, specifically specifications, evaluations,
contracts, and contact information.
- E-mail Procurement Bulletin
-
- The Program began producing a "procurement bulletin" in 1997 to disseminate
information about environmental products, events, contracts, and other resources.
Recipients include participants in the program's County liaison network, suburban cities,
and others around the nation. Currently, there are over 200 recipients of this bulletin.
An index and the contents of past bulletins can be found on the program web-site. Examples
of bulletin titles from this year:
-
- Remanufactured Laser Printer Toner Cartridges
- EPA Energy Star/Green Lights Programs
- Recycled Concrete Aggregate
- Waste Prevention
- Recycled Materials for Landscape Applications
- Energy Efficiency Projects in King County
- Recycled Plastic Lumber
- Internet Discussion Groups
-
- We participate in several Internet discussion groups, where we exchange environmental
purchasing information with other jurisdictions, many of which now subscribe to our
Procurement Bulletin. The participants come from across the nation and bring a wide range
of experience, which has been shared with County agencies for evaluation.
-
- EPPNET - the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Network, sponsored by the
Northeast Recycling Council (NERC). The Council publicizes the availability of our
"Procurement Bulletin" to their almost 200 network subscribers.
- Waste Prevention Forum - a discussion group managed by Solid Waste Division, and
part of the National Waste Prevention Coalition.
- Green Building - a discussion group on green-building topics, sponsored by Oikos (a sustainable and energy-efficient
construction resource) and Environmental Building News.
Special Information Programs
The program provided information about environmentally preferable procurement
opportunities through tours, meetings, and special events, such as:
- Environmentally Preferable Products and Processes
- Fluorescent Lamp Recycling
- Energy Efficient Lighting and Air Conditioning
- Hard-to-Recycle Items
- EPA Energy Star/Green Lights Programs
- Waste Prevention
- Energy Efficiency Projects in King County
- Recycled and Rubberized Asphalt
-
- Presentation to Roads personnel by the Rubberized Asphalt Technology Center of the State
of California.
-
- Recycled plastic lumber
- Wetlands bridge at Meadowbrook Pond (City of Seattle) and boardwalk and benches at
Golden Gardens Park (City of Seattle)
-
- Recycled glass tiles
- Toured a manufacturer and viewed recycled tiles
-
- Recycled paper and waste reduction
- Tour of a warehouse that utilizes computer technology to reduce the waste of paper
Public Involvement
The King County Environmental Purchasing Program offers its experience in support of
the planning, policy-development, and procurement-education activities of other
jurisdictions and organizations.
The program provided technical assistance to, and exchanged information with, suburban
cities in King County, as well as state and federal agencies, and other users. In 1998,
program personnel participated in the meetings, programs and conferences conducted by the
following organizations:
- President's Council on the Environment
The Environmental Purchasing Program was selected to participate in a workshop sponsored
by the President's Council on the Environment and the Office of the Federal Environmental
Executive, in Washington D.C. The forum consisted of 120 national experts, three from
Washington State.
- National Association of Counties (NACo):
Received the First-Annual (1998) Environmental Procurement Award of NACo's Environmental
Purchasing Project.
- National Marketplace for the Environment, Los Angeles Conference
Presented information about King County's Environmental Purchasing Program
- Northwest Sustainable Building Action Work Group, City of Seattle/King County
Participated in planning for regional actions in support of green building in 1998. The
first phase of planning is to be completed by end of the year.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
Participated in an EPA project to develop Waste Reduction Procurement guidelines and
technical-assistance documents for municipal governments
- Waste Information Network - Environmental Conference
Presented information about King County's Environmental Purchasing Program
- Association of Oregon Recyclers - Eugene, Oregon
Presented information about King County's Environmental Purchasing Program
- American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM):
Served on Committee D06, Paper and Paper Products Subcommittee D06.40, developing a
standard terminology for recycled paper
- CDL Council
Participated in Council meetings, established by the Washington State Recycling
Association, Department of Ecology, and King County Solid Waste Division to address issues
related to construction, demolition and landclearing debris
- Environmental Purchasing Initiative - City of Seattle
Conferred with program personnel to share information about environmental purchasing
- Sustainable Building Forum - Solid Waste Division
The Solid Waste Division hosted a forum at which King County agencies were able to share
information about sustainable building. This effort will help agencies to integrate the
sustainability message into the County's various technical assistance programs.
Publicity
A key to the success of the King County Environmental Purchasing Program has been the
exchange of practical information with other users of these unfamiliar materials. Many of
these exchanges have come as a consequence of exposure through national magazines,
newspapers, and other publications.
Among the publications which featured the King County Environmental Purchasing Program
in 1998 were:
- Recycling Times:
November, 1997
1997 annual report and notice of web-site
- Waste Reduction Tips: January/February, 1998
Mention of annual report and web-site ("most impressive buy recycled procurement
program")
Policy
- King County Policy Revision
-
- The King County Environmental Purchasing Policy (Executive Policy CON 7-1-2, A/EP) was
revised in 1995 to accommodate changes to the procurement guidelines of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the creation
of Federal Executive Order 12873, and to reflect the County's four years of experience in
policy implementation. The revised policy requires County agencies to purchase
"environmentally preferable"* products wherever practicable and expands
the commitment of agencies to other environmentally preferable initiatives such as
reduction of the use of toxic materials, energy conservation, waste-reduction, and
"green-building."
- *King County defines "environmentally preferable" as products 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.
- Model Procurement Policy
-
- Program personnel continued to promote the development of recycled and environmentally
preferable procurement policies in suburban cities by providing technical support to the
Solid Waste Division's Waste Reduction/Recycling Section. The model was revised in 1997 to
broaden the range of environmentally preferable products. Program personnel also provide
direct technical assistance to suburban cities for policy implementation, including
sharing contracts, specifications, and procurement strategies. According to the Solid
Waste Division, twenty-one cities have adopted policies, based on King County's model,
since 1992:
-
| Bellevue |
Burien |
Carnation |
Des Moines |
Duvall |
Enumclaw |
Federal Way |
| Issaquah |
Kent |
Kirkland |
Lake Forest Park |
Mercer Island |
Normandy Park |
North Bend |
| Pacific |
Redmond |
Renton |
SeaTac |
Snoqualmie |
Tukwila |
Woodinville |
Allied King County Programs
Many King County programs provide information and technical assistance to help citizens
and businesses find ways to help improve our environment. The Environmental Purchasing
Program has collaborated with the following programs for the distribution of information
in 1998:
- Employee Recycling Program, Department
of Construction and Facilities Management: coordinates the in-house recycling
program for 12,000 King County employees and encourages waste reduction. In 1997,
employees in County facilities recycled 1.2 million pounds of material. Also in 1997, two
King County facilities became Green Works members achieving a 49% recycling rate: the
Courthouse and the Administration buildings.
- GreenWorks, Business Recycling
Program, Solid Waste Division: provides technical assistance to County businesses
to enhance waste reduction, recycling and buy-recycled practices and then recognizes these
businesses for their efforts. In 1997, the GreenWorks program began to allow public
agencies to participate and qualified two King County buildings, adding them to the
recognition list.
- Hazardous Waste Program, Department of
Natural Resources: provides technical assistance on hazardous-waste issues to
businesses and citizens, including free waste audits. This group also administers the
Envirostars recognition program, to recognize businesses that reduce and/or properly
manage hazardous waste.
- Industrial Materials Exchange (IMEX),
Department of Public Health: IMEX is a free service designed to match businesses
that produce wastes, industrial by-products, or surplus materials with businesses that can
use them productively. The program produces a catalogue to encourage waste exchanges,
create opportunities for recycling and reduce landfill disposal of surplus materials. Over
1,200 exchanges have occurred as a result of IMEX matches to-date. This represents total
estimated savings of $6.5 million in disposal and purchasing costs to area businesses.
Back
to Table of Contents
Back to
Section I. Environmental Purchasing
Back to
Section II. Purchases
Back to
Section III. Environmental Initiatives of County Agencies
Forward to
Appendix
Back to
Environmental Purchasing Main Menu
E-mail