Transcript Life Cycle Considerations in Environmental Procurement

ENVIRONMENTALLY
PREFERABLE
PURCHASING
P2 Regional Roundtable
EPP Session
EUN-SOOK GOIDEL
PACIFIC NW
POLLUTION PREVENTION RESOURCE CENTER
March 17, 2004
OVERVIEW OF EPP SESSION
AM

Part 1: EPP Panel
– Setting the context
– Introductions by panel
members
– Panel discussion of
challenges & strategies
to overcome them
– Questions for panel
members from the
audience
– Wrap up
PM

Part 2: EPP Training
– Putting the Concepts
into Practice
– Key ingredients for
EPP
– How do you know it’s
“green”?
– EPP Opportunities &
Resources
– Q&A throughout
2
INSTITUTIONAL PURCHASERS:
A SPECIAL ROLE…
“The large scale, systematic approach that
most institutions take in their purchasing
can have large ripple effects on which
products are used by hundreds or even
thousands of individuals.”
Purchasing Power: Harnessing Institutional Procurement
for People and the Planet, Worldwatch Institute, 2003
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WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL
PURCHASING?
….Incorporating key environmental
factors with traditional price and
performance considerations in
purchasing decisions.
4
EVOLUTION OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PURCHASING
Recycled Content
Purchasing
Energy Efficiency
Purchasing
Environmentally
Preferable
Purchasing
Reduced Toxics
Purchasing
Bio-based
Purchasing
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SUSTAINABLE
PURCHASING
 Balancing the three “E”s:
 Environment
 Economics
 Equity
 Next iteration in the continuous
improvement model...
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EPP PANEL DISCUSSION
Panelists:
– Jonell Allamano, U.S. EPA-Region 10
– Ron Dalberg, Swedish Medical Center
– Eric Nelson, King County
– Servando Patlan, WA Office of State
Procurement
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ENVIRONMENTALLY
PREFERABLE
PURCHASING
PUTTING EPP CONCEPTS
INTO PRACTICE
EUN-SOOK GOIDEL
PACIFIC NW
POLLUTION PREVENTION RESOURCE CENTER
March 17, 2004
OVERVIEW OF EPP SESSION
AM

Part 1: EPP Panel
– Setting the context
– Introductions by panel
members
– Panel discussion of
challenges & strategies
to overcome them
– Questions for panel
members from the
audience
– Wrap up
PM

Part 2: EPP Training
– Putting the Concepts
into Practice
– Key ingredients for
EPP
– How do you know it’s
“green”?
– EPP Opportunities &
Resources
– Q&A throughout
9
Environmental
purchasing is
10% technical and
90% behavioral!
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Responsibility should
not fall on the
shoulders of
“purchasers” only
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CHAIN OF CONSUMPTION
PLAYERS
SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
– R&D/Designers
– Materials Selection
– Manufacturers
– Mfg Process Selection
– Retailers
– Distribution/Packaging
– Purchasers
– Sourcing/Logistics
– End Users
– Product Selection/Use
– End-of-life managers
– Disposal/Recycling
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ENVIRONMENTALLY
PREFERABLE PURCHASING
PLAYERS
Send clear market signals of
organization’s preference for
environmentally preferable
products
– R&D/Designers
– Manufacturers
– Retailers
– Purchasers
– End Users
– End-of-life managers
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PART 1:
PUTTING THE
CONCEPTS INTO
PRACTICE
EPP: KEY INGREDIENTS
(Need not mix sequentially!)

Engage others
 Know what you’re buying
 Bench-mark your purchasing practices
 Prioritize your efforts
 Define green for chosen product category
 Fit green into procurement to obtain product
 Sell EPP to internal and external stakeholders
 Nurture a supportive infrastructure
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* Engage Others *
 Tips:
– Consider
 Who can influence product selection
 Who will be affected by product switch
 Who might be a good champion
– Chosen product category will usually dictate who
needs to be involved. For example, different
players are involved in product choices for - Janitorial
 IT Equipment
 Examples
– Cross functional teams are used by many of the
EPP pioneers (e.g., Massachusetts, City of Seattle,
Starbucks, Herman Miller)
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* Know what you are buying *

Secure a purchasing report for the past year

Tips:
– Have the report organized by product category or
ranked by value of purchase

Which products/services are purchased the most?
– Obtain information about existing vendors and type of
contract (e.g., long-term vs. short-term)

Are there a few vendors with large $ contracts or many
vendors with small $ contracts?
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* Benchmark *

Without knowing where you are, it is impossible
to see any distinct change or to determine the
results of an environmental purchasing effort.

Available tools to help you:
– North American Green Purchasing Initiative’s ECO-
S.A.T. (A Green Purchasing Self Assessment Tool)
http://www.cec.org (not yet available on-line)
– Green Seal Criteria for Green Procurement
http://www.greenseal.org/criteria_procurement.pdf
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Review
Self-Assessment Tools
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* Prioritize *
 Select a product category on
which to focus your efforts
based on criteria such as:
– Total value of purchase
– Environmental impact
– Availability of alternatives
 Tool to help you:
– PPRC’s Product Prioritization Tool
- Global Environmental
Management Initiative’s “FourStep Search for Value
Opportunities related to EHS
Performance”
http://www.gemi.org/newpath.pdf
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Review
Product Prioritization
Tool
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PPRC’S PRIORITIZATION TOOL*
 Environmental
– Overall Impact
– Product Stewardship
potential
 Political
– Statutory requirement
– Management support
– Industry collaboration
potential
 Logistics
– Standards
– Environmental info.
– Env alternatives
– Performance
– Expertise
– Flexibility in procurement
 Economic
–
–
–
–
Dollar value of purchase
Price of alternatives
Life cycle cost savings
Bundling potential
* Developed for the Department of Ecology and WA Office of State Procurement, 2003
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* Tool is being revised for use by a broader audience.
PPRC’s Product Category Prioritization Tool – An Example
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Criteria Score
Product
Category/Contract
Carpet
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Cleaning Product
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Computer (desktop)
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Copier paper
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Interior paint
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FOUR STEPS TO FIND VALUE
OPPORTUNITIES IN PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
Excerpted from: GEMI’s New Paths to Business Value, 2001
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*Prioritize*
(continued)
 How others have prioritized:
– Focus on products associated with sourcing,
transportation and store design based on the Natural
Step framework (Starbucks)
– Focus on products sold by 23 vendors receiving 70% of
hospital’s purchasing funds (Swedish Medical Center)
– Formed teams around 16 commodities for which city
spends 80% of its dollars (City of Seattle)
– Rank based on three criteria: waste reduction potential,
toxicity reduction in the waste stream, and availability
of alternatives (State of Minnesota)
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* Define Green*
 For the selected product categories, decide what
product attributes will differentiate a “greener”
product
 Tips
– Rely on existing resources and replicate!
 Federal, state and local EPP program resources
 Third Party standards and certifications
– You CAN develop unique standard to fit your needs
(+/- to this)
– Remember to apply life cycle thinking in “defining”
green
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* “Fit” Green into Procurement *

Criteria for green must be integrated into
procurement process to ensure that the
“greener” product is obtained!

Tip
– Integrate environmental considerations into the
SOP of procurement department. For example,



Market surveys that include environmental
questions
Solicitations and evaluation processes that reward
environmentally superior products and processes
It helps to give clear signals to existing and new
vendors of organization’s environmental
commitment
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* “Sell” to Stakeholders *
 Internal Stakeholders
 Procurement staff
 End Users
 Budget/Finance staff
 External Stakeholders
 Vendors
What Approaches
Work Best?
Voluntary
Or
Mandatory?
 Customers
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*“Sell” to Stakeholders *
(continued)

Tips for internal
stakeholders

Tips for external
stakeholders
– Incentives for
– Pre-bid meetings with
purchasers
(Massachusetts Buy
Recycled/EPP Award)
– EPP as a part of job
performance (State of
Washington)
– Pilot/demonstration
projects
vendors (most EPP
pioneers)
– Incentives, e.g.,
through price
premiums (Department
of Defense
construction contract)
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“NURTURE” A SUPPORTIVE
INFRASTRUCTURE
• Tips
- Provide high level support
- Set clear goals and priorities
- Ensure responsibility is shared across
professional disciplines
- Provide training and education
- Create “safe harbor” for innovative EPP
approaches
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INSTITUTIONALIZING EPP
THEORY/CONCEPT
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
INDIVIDUAL TRANSLATION
& ADOPTION
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QUESTIONS?
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END OF PART
1
PART 2:
HOW DO
YOU
KNOW
IT’S
“GREEN”?
ENVIRONMENTALLY
PREFERABLE PURHCASING
EPP = Environment + Price + Performance
•pollution prevention
•Multiple attributes
•life cycle
35
HOW DO YOU DETERMINE
IT’S “GREEN”?
 “ Green” based on:
–
–
–
–
Organization-unique standards
Vendor claims about its products or practices
Government standards or guides (e.g., Energy Star)
Third Party standards (e.g., Green Seal, CFPA,
Canada’s Environmental Choice)
 How these are manifested:
–
–
–
–
Approved supplier lists (Starbucks)
Chemical bans (Herman Miller, Volvo)
Approved product lists (Aberdeen Proving Ground)
Solicitations that reflect existing or organizationspecific standards
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VENDOR CLAIMS
 All environmental claims made
about a product or a service must
comply with the Federal Trade
Commission Guides for Use of
Environmental Marketing Claims (“
FTC Green Guides”)
 FTC Guides can be accessed at:
www.ftc.gov/bcp/grnrule/guides980
427.htm
37
Environmental Products
VENDOR CLAIMS (continued)
 FTC guides establish four general principles for
environmental marketing:
– clear and prominent disclosure to prevent deception.
– presented in a way that makes clear whether the
environmental attribute or benefit refers to the
product, the packaging, or both.
– Avoid overstating environmental attributes and claims.
– Present comparative statements in a manner that
makes the basis for the comparison sufficiently clear
to avoid consumer deception.
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VENDOR CLAIMS (continued)
FTC also provides guidance on the
appropriate use of the following categories
of claims:
– Claims of general environmental benefits.
– Claims that the product is “degradable,”
“compostable,” or “recyclable.”
– Claims of “recycled content,” “source
reduction,” “refillable,” or “ozone safe/ozone
friendly.”
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GOVERNMENT STANDARDS
OR GUIDES
 Federal standards exist for:
– Recycled content (EPA)
– Energy and water efficiency (DOE and EPA)
– Bio-based (currently being developed by USDA)
 States and local governments have developed
standards
– Often follow federal standards for RC, EE, WE
– Some go beyond federal standards
 One-stop shopping: EPA’s EPP Database
http://yosemite1.epa.gov/oppt/eppstand2.nsf
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FEDERAL GREEN PROCUREMENT
PROGRAMS
Green Procurement Program
Target Attribute(s)
Comprehensive Procurement Guideline
Recycled content
Energy Star
Energy efficiency
Biobased Program
EPP Program
Agricultural or forestry
materials content
Depends on product/service -examples include:
All of the above plus
Less/Non toxic
Resource conserving
Recyclable
Durable/upgradable
Reduced packaging
Reduced effect on human
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health and eco-systems
THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS
 Develop standards (e.g., ASTM)
 Verify and/or validate claims (e.g., Scientific
Certification Systems)
 Certify vis-à-vis an existing standard (e.g.,
Underwriter’s Lab)
 Certify other third party programs (e.g., Forest
Stewardship Council)
 Develop standards and award labels based on
these standards (e.g., Green Seal)
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THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS

Pros

Cons
+ They’ve done the
– Some worry that the
homework of
determining what
constitutes green
(= resource savings for
organizations)
+ Some programs utilize
LCA and/or LC
perspective in
standards development
cost of certification
might be passed onto
the purchasers by
vendors
– Can be difficult to sort
out which third party
standards are “good”
and which ones are not
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EVALUATING THIRD PARTY
PROGRAMS
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified the
following list of questions to evaluate third party
organizations. Does the program have:
• An open, public process that involves key stakeholders?
• A transparent process (i.e., process and resulting criteria are
publicly available, easily accessed and understandable to the lay
person)?
• A system of data verification and data quality?
• A peer review process (with representation of all stakeholders) for
developing the standards or criteria?
• Criteria which are developed based on a "systems" or life cycle
approach (i.e., "cradle to grave")?
44
EVALUATING THIRD PARTY
PROGRAMS (continued)
Does the third party program have:
• An outreach program to educate the consumer?
• An established goal of updating standards or criteria?
• Authority to inspect the facility whose product is certified to
ensure compliance with the standards or criteria?
• Testing protocols for the products that are certified which ensure
testing is conducted by a credible institution?
• Access to obtaining the seal by small and medium sized companies
(e.g., the cost of the seal is not so high as to prevent access by
companies)? and
• Compliance with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Guides
for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims?
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PART 3: YOU’RE NOT
WITHOUT HELP!
OPPORTUNITIES AND
TOOLS
IMMEDIATE OPPORTUNITIES

Copier Paper
 Electronics
 Cleaning products
 Buildings
 Conferences/Meetings
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WHY COPIER PAPER?
Resource intensive
– About 42% of the wood harvested for industrial use
goes to making paper.
– In the U.S., the pulp and paper industry is the second
largest consumer of energy and uses more water to
produce a ton of product than any other industry.
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WHY COPIER PAPER?
 High volume of use
– An average office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of
copier paper per year!
– In 1997, the Federal government purchased roughly
18.1 billion sheets of copier paper.

High, Hidden Cost
– Office paper is the fastest growing use of paper. The
cost of printing, copying, mailing, storing and
disposing can exceed the initial price by as much as 10
times!
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WHAT YOU CAN DO
Seek to increase paper “efficiency”
– Duplex copying & printing
– Many other strategies!
Buy “greener”
– high quality, competitively priced options exist
– Go for high post consumer, chlorine-free papers!
Ensure fully functioning paper recycling
program
– Close the “loop”
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WHAT YOU CAN DO
Follow the lead of pioneers:
– Vermont has been using chlorine free, high recycled
content paper since 1994
– Others doing the same:
 City of Portland
 State of Oregon
 State of Washington
 Environmental Protection Agency
 Department of the Interior
– Many others!!
51
WHAT YOU CAN DO

Look to existing resources:
– Federal Network for Sustainability Paper Campaign
website: www.federalsustainability.org
– Cutting Paper: http://eetd.LBL.gov/Paper
– State of Minnesota's "Reduce Waste: If not you, who?
Campaign“:
http://www.moea.state.mn.us/campaign/workplace/inde
x.html
– Conservatree www.conservatree.com
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WHY ELECTRONICS?
 Short Life Span
– By 2005, most people will trade in their
computers for newer models within 2
years of purchase
– Cell phones are typically used for only
18 months before being replaced.
53
WHY ELECTRONICS?

Large Volumes of Waste & Toxic
Components
– Today, 1.5 million computers enter
waste streams annually
– By 2004, as many as 315 million
obsolete computers could end up in
landfills
= 1.2 billion pounds of lead +
= 2 million pounds of cadmium +
= 400,000 pounds of mercury
– By 2005 about 130 million of cell
phones, weighing approximately 65,000
tons, will be retired annually in the US.
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WHAT YOU CAN DO

Follow the lead of pioneers:
– Seattle, WA requires take-back plus “multi-
paks”
– Department of the Interior and City of Denver
computer contracts include environmental
requirements
– Minnesota has contract language requiring
proper disposal
– Pennsylvania will be leasing all their computer
equipment
55
WHAT YOU CAN DO
 Look to existing resources:
– EPA’s EPP Program’s website:
www.epa.gov/oppt/epp/electronics.htm
– Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Clean Computer
Campaign: http://www.svtc.org/cleancc/index.html
– Center for New American Dream’s computer
workgroup:
http://www.newdream.org/procure/products/computers.
html
– Product Stewardship Institutes’ EPP Guide:
http://www.productstewardshipinstitute.net/EPP.html#E
lectronics
– Federal Electronics Challenge:
http://www.federalelectronicschallenge.net
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WHY CLEANING PRODUCTS?
 Large, pervasive industry!
– Institutional/commercial (I/C) cleaning is a $100+ billion industry.
– I/C cleaning industry uses roughly 6 - 8 billion pounds of cleaning
products.
– Cleaning industry employs 2 - 3 million janitors; but due to very
high turn-over, even greater #s are affected.
 Equity Issues
– Janitors tend to be minorities; stepping stone for many immigrants.
 Health Issues
– Most people spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors.
Many indoor environments contain hazards that lead to health
complaints.
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WHAT YOU CAN DO

Adopt Green Seal’s Institutional and
Industrial Cleaners Standard (GS-37) -http://www.greenseal.org/standards.htm

Follow the lead of pioneers
– Santa Monica (CA), City of Seattle,
Massachusetts, Minnesota and many others have
great “green” cleaning programs
58
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Look to existing resources:
– EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
Program website:
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/epp/cleaner.htm
– INFORM’s Cleaning for Health: Products and
Practices for a Safer Indoor Environment:
http://www.informinc.org/cleanforhealth.php
– ASTM Standard E 1971-98 – Stewardship for
the Cleaning of Commercial and Institutional
Buildings: http://www.astm.org (search by title)
59
WHY BUILDINGS?
 Resource Intensive
– Building construction and use consume 40% of the
world's raw stone, gravel and sand resources, 25% of the
virgin wood supply, and 16% of total water withdrawal.
– Buildings use approximately 40% of the energy in the
U.S.
 High volume of waste
– Construction and demolition waste eats up 40% of our
landfill space.
 Health issues
– On average, Americans spend 90 percent or more of their
time indoors.
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WHAT YOU CAN DO
 Incorporate environmental factors into the earliest
planning stages of a construction/renovation
project!!
 Follow the lead of many private sector and public
sector pioneers
 Participate in the LEEDs Green Buildings Rating
System http://www.usgbc.org/leed/leed_main.asp
 Look to numerous existing resources; e.g.,
http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/
61
WHY MEETINGS?
 Travel and tourism is the world’s largest industry.
– Meetings make up a growing component of this
industry which weighed in a few years ago at $280
billion annually, world-wide.
 Bringing people together for meetings has a slew
of environmental impacts, associated with:
marketing of the event, travel to/from events,
lodging, food services & local travel.
– All this translates into high and concentrated
consumption of energy, water and other natural
resources .
62
WHY MEETINGS?
 An average hotel purchases more products in
a week than 100 families purchase in an entire
year.
 93,000 Federal travelers are traveling on any
given business day to 8,000 locations across
the country for meetings.
– This translates into 24 million room nights of hotel
space in the US annually.
63
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Start incorporating green considerations
as early in the conference/meeting
planning process as possible:
– A key decision is the selection of the city and
conference site that will avail you to the most
number of green options.
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WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Look to existing resources:
– U.S. EPA’s Green Meetings Initiative
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/greenmeetings/
– Oceans Blue Foundation
http://www.oceansblue.org
– The Coalition for Environmentally Responsible
Economies (CERES) Green Hotel Initiative
http://www.ceres.org/our_work/ghi.htm
– Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
Green Meeting Task Force
http://www.mpiweb.org/
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TOP FIVE RESOURCES





Pacific NW Pollution Prevention Resource Center:
www.pprc.org
U.S. EPA’s EPP Program website:
www.epa.gov/oppt/epp
Northeast Recycling Council’s EPPNet:
www.nerc.org/eppnet.html
Center for New American Dream:
www.newdream.org/procure
Inform: http://www.informinc.org/p3_00.php
66
QUESTIONS?
Contact:
Eun-Sook Goidel
Pacific NW Pollution Prevention Resource
Center
[email protected]
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