EPA Considers More
Comprehensive "Green"
Procurement
Guidance
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has requested comments on its
proposed strategy to increase federal purchases of "products or services that
have a lesser impact or reduced effect on human health and the environment when
compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose."
Under Section 503 of Presidential Executive Order #12873 (Federal
Acquisition, Recycling and Waste Prevention) the EPA is required to issue
guidance to federal agencies in determining how to procure "environmentally
preferable" goods and services. A notice describing the draft Guidance on
Acquisition of Environmentally Preferable Products and Services was
published in the Federal Register on September 29, 1995. It can be
accessed on the Internet's GPO Access worldwide web site located at
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/.
The purpose of this guidance is to assist the Federal government in using its
tremendous purchasing power -- estimated at $200 billion annually -- to spur
innovation of goods and services in order to address some of the pressing
environmental problems facing the nation. While EPA has issued detailed
guidelines for federal agencies to follow in awarding preference to products
made with recycled content (such as recycled paper, re-refined motor oil,
retread tires, etc.), it has not yet issued formal instructions on how agencies
should choose products that are "non-toxic", "ozone-friendly", "biodegradable",
or made from renewable resources. The proposed guidance document describes
general principles and procedures that can be applied across product categories
and suggests how these principles should be applied to specific products. It
also describes a series of pilot projects and a code of practice to be used by
federal agencies when evaluating the credibility of third-party eco-labeling
programs.
The guidance is based on the following seven principals:
- Agencies should incorporate pollution prevention into their acquisition
process in order to reduce potential human health risks and damage to the
environment. The guidance reads: "Environmental preferability does not involve
just substituting one 'green' product for another, it also involves questioning
whether it can best be performed to minimize environment impacts." (Federal
Register, September 29, 1995, 50728)
- Multiple environmental attributes should be considered in determining a
product's preferability. This can include energy efficiency, impacts on air,
water, land, etc. There may be trade-offs between these impacts which
government purchasing agents need to weigh.
- The best way to evaluate the overall impact of a product is to conduct a
cradle-to-grave environmental analysis. "Ideally, 'environmental preferability'
of a product or service should be determined by comparing the severity of
environmental damage it causes to human health and ecological health across its
life-cycle with that caused by competing products -- from the point of raw
materials acquisition, through product manufacturing, packaging, and
transportation to use and ultimate disposal," according to the proposed
guidance.
- When weighing environmental attributes, agencies should consider the scale
and reversibility of the impacts. Agencies may need to assess which risks are
the most important. The guidance contains a list of priority human health and
environmental impacts including acute toxicity, carcinogenicity, damage to
reproduction and the immune system, and others that agencies should consider.
- Environmental preferability should be tailored to local conditions, where
appropriate. Local impacts, such as air and water pollution, should be weighed
against global environmental effects such as ozone depletion or climate
change.
- Agencies should foster competition among vendors based on environmental
attributes of products. This can be accomplished by seeking as much information
as possible about the environmental impacts of the goods and services they use
or are considering buying.
- Agencies should carefully examine claims made by manufacturers and
certifiers about the environmental attributes of products. EPA believes that
Executive agencies should not make decisions regarding the environmental
preferability of products based on third party environmental certification
programs unless they meet the following basic characteristics:
* An open, public process that involves key stakeholders (business,
environmental and consumer groups, states, etc.) in developing its criteria and
standards;
* A system of data verification and data quality;
* A peer review process for developing standards and criteria;
* Criteria based on a life-cycle approach;
* An outreach program to educate consumers about the environmental impacts
of products;
* An established goal of updating standards as technology and scientific
knowledge advances;
* Authority to inspect the facility whose product is certified to ensure
compliance with the standards or criteria;
* Testing protocols that are conducted by a credible institution;
* Access to obtaining the seal by small and medium-sized companies (not
cost-prohibitive); and
* Compliance with the FTC's "Guidelines for the Use of Environmental
Marketing Claims."
As the first step toward implementing its environmentally preferable
procurement strategy, EPA is undertaking a series of pilot projects to study
the workability of utilizing "green" products such as biodegradable cleaners
and computer equipment with attributes beyond the ENERGY STAR designation. EPA
is seeking suggestions for additional pilot projects. The Government Purchasing
Project has urged EPA to issue guidance for the procurement of environmentally
preferable paper products such as those bleached without chlorine or made from
tree-free fibers such as kenaf.
Contact: Danielle Fuligni (7409), Office of Pollution Prevention and
Toxics, USEPA, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20469; (202) 260-4172; fax (202) 260-0178;
fuligni.danielle@epamail.epa.gov