What is Environmentally Preferable Purchasing?

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "Environmentally Preferable Purchasing is a process for selecting 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."

Environment + Price + Performance = EPP

All three aspects should be considered when making a purchasing decision.

This process is also known as "Sustainable Purchasing", "Environmentally friendly purchasing", or "Green purchasing".

What are the Benefits of Environmentally Preferable Purchasing?

Not only is EPP good for the environment, I most cases it saves money! Also environmentally preferable products increase worker safety while protecting the environment.

What is Life Cycle Analysis?

This website, www.howproductsimpact.net, allows the visitor to examine how a product is manufactured from start to finish. This is a great site for increasing understanding of lifecycle analysis and what should be considered when purchasing a product.

This website also explains in detail what life cycle analysis is.

What should be considered when purchasing a product?

• Environment + Price + Performance = EPP
  Include environmental considerations as part of the normal purchasing process.
• Pollution Prevention
  Emphasize pollution prevention as part of the purchasing process.
• Life Cycle Perspective/Multiple Attributes
  Examine multiple environmental attributes throughout the product and service's life cycle.
• Comparison of Environmental Impacts
  Compare environmental impacts when selecting products and services.
• Environmental Performance Information
  Collect accurate and meaningful environmental information about environmental performance of products and services
  For more information visit www.epa.gov/oppt/epp/pubs/guidance/fivegp.htm

The Previous information can be obtained from research on the internet and/or by talking to the manufacturer or vendor of the product.

Before purchasing any product it is always a good idea to ask the following questions. You might be surprised where the answers lead you.

1. Why do I want this?
2. How will I use it?
3. Where did it come from?
4. What are my alternatives?
5. Can I get along without it?

This will help you make responsible purchasing decisions and save you money by preventing the purchase of unneeded items.

Purchasing Guide

The following website gives excellent guidance on purchasing products that are environmentally preferable. It details the different product characteristics that should be considered when making a purchasing decision and gives examples of how these characteristics apply to different commodities.

www.swmcb.org/EPPG/default.asp

Other:

EPP Dictionary of Common Terms

www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp/pubs/about/eppterms.htm

Eco Products

This website contains environmentally preferable products ranging from household cleaning supplies and coffee cups to building materials and park benches. Not only are these products manufactured with the environment in mind, they are offered at competitive prices and can be shipped anywhere in the US.

For more information visit www.ecoproducts.com

Green Seal Website:

This website lists some pre-approved products that have been researched and shown to be environmentally friendly. All products on this website have been certified by Green-seal after being evaluated. www.greenseal.org