Environmental Protection 

Agency

September 1998

www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp

1EPA

and Toxics

(7409)

Many public and private universities are saving money while preserving the environment. These

schools, which are using their multimillion

dollar budgets to purchase environmentally

preferable goods and services, also are discovering that EPP offers significant financial benefits. Green Investment, Green

Return, a report written by David J. Eagan,

Ph.D., and Julian Keniry of the National

Wildlife Federation (NWF), discusses environmentally preferable purchasing on 

15 college campuses. The procurement

practices undertaken by these institutions

resulted in cost savings of more than $16 million annually. In addition, the report indicates a potential cost savings of $2.6 billion annually if all of the nation’s 3,700 college and university campuses practiced environmentally preferable purchasing.

EPP Could Save

Academia $2.6

Billion Annually

< Continued on Page 3 >

< Continued on Page 2 >

T he U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the “nation’s landlord” and a major supply and purchasing agency for the federal government, acquires more than $40 billion in

goods and services from the private sector

annually, affording many opportunities for

the agency to go “green.” David J. Barram,

GSA Administrator, introduced “Planet

GSA,” with the goal of enhancing GSA’s

efforts in four areas— buying green (procurement), building green (design and

construction), driving green (alternativefuel vehicles), and saving green (energy),

at GSA’s annual Earth Day celebration in

April 1998.

While some departments and individuals at GSA have implemented their

own environmental initiatives in years

past, Planet GSA is the first comprehensive, agencywide environmental

program that aims to coordinate and

build on what has been done to date,

and might prove to be an effective

model for other federal agencies. 

Buying Green

In an effort to increase the procurement

of green products, GSA developed the

Environmental Products Guide. The guide

features a wide variety of items with

reduced environmental impacts, including

1,000 recycled paper items, generating

GSA Goes Greener

Issue 3 | September 1 998 ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PURCHASING

2Printed on paper that contains at least 20 percent postconsumer fiber.

•A New Pilot

Approach for EPP

•Parking Lot Pilot

Project Update

•“Green” Conference

Planning

•EPA Initiates Copier

Paper Pilot Project

•EPP Upcoming Events

•EPP Resources

Highlights

EPPUpdate
< Green Purchasing - Continued From Page 1 >

sales of more than $200 million each

year. The guide also contains information on products designed to prevent

pollution, minimize waste, and conserve

natural resources. Working with EPA,

and the U.S. Department of Energy

(DOE), GSA promotes the procurement

of energy-efficient computers, office

equipment, and household appliances,

and offers more than 2,000 Energy Star

items on its Federal Supply Schedules.

Tom Daily, coordinator of GSA’s Buy

Green program, sees Planet GSA as an

opportunity to build upon and capitalize

on these ongoing efforts to educate GSA’s

employees and other agencies. Providing

information on products with environmental attributes in all of GSA’s catalogues is one example of this procurement education effort.

Building Green

GSA oversees more than 250 million

square feet of office space for more than

100 federal organizations. It designs,

constructs, leases, and maintains diverse

facilities, including office buildings, federal courthouses, border stations, and

data processing centers. While details

are still in development, GSA has

already outlined short-, mid-, and longterm goals for the Building Green portion of Planet GSA, according to Debra

Yap, GSA’s Building Green coordinator.

Short-term goals include promoting the

use of building materials with more

recycled content as required by EPA’s

Comprehensive Procurement Guideline

(CPG); mid-term goals focus on construction waste management; and the

long-term goals concentrate more

broadly on sustainable design.

Driving Green

GSA operates an interagency fleet of more

than 14,500 alternative-fuel vehicles that

run on ethanol, methanol, natural gas,

and electricity, thus reducing air pollution.

In fiscal year 1999, GSA will increase

acquisitions of passenger vehicles and

light vans for major metropolitan areas

to 75 percent, according to Larry Frisbee,

GSA’s Drive Green coordinator. Other

Drive Green initiatives include using

retread tires and re-refined oil, and taking

fuel efficiency into consideration when

acquiring fleet vehicles. To promote

Planet GSA’s green fleet, GSA and Federal

Aviation Administration employees drove

a Ford Crown Victoria, fueled by compressed natural gas, from Washington,

DC, to the National Fleet Manager Workshop in Scottsdale, Arizona, this summer.

Saving Green

GSA already maintains an innovative energy and water management program that

has reduced utility costs and helped to

protect the environment while still providing a quality work space for clients. GSA

tracks energy usage and is making the

necessary adjustments to cut that amount

20 percent by 2000 and 30 percent by

2005. Additionally GSA is partnering with

DOE to institute solar power projects. The

procurement of solar power and other

green power sources, such as wind power,

are part of GSA’s plans to conserve energy,

explained Beth Shearer, head of the Save

Green component of Planet GSA.

Shearer says that though conserving

energy has been one of GSA’s ongoing

goals, “having the support of the

administration, through the Planet GSA

program, makes a huge difference and

helps us focus our efforts.” 

Additional environmental conservation efforts undertaken by GSA include

recycling paint, purchasing carpet made

from plastic bottles, promoting lesstoxic cleaning products, and advocating

safer pest-control technologies.

To further encourage environmental

practices, GSA is pursuing partnerships

with other federal agencies to help

identify and develop additional “greening” opportunities. EPA firmly supports

the Planet GSA program and currently

is exploring the partnership potential

between the two agencies. ■

2

EPA’s

Comprehensive

Procurement

Guideline

Program is part of

EPA’s continuing

effort to promote

the use of materials

recovered from solid

waste. Each year, EPA

designates additional

products that can be

purchased with recycled content. Buying

recycled-content

products ensures that

the materials collected in recycling programs will be used

again in the manufacture of new products. All federal

agencies are required

by RCRA 6002 and

Executive Order

12873 to purchase

CPG items.

EPA’s Energy Star

programs and products are designed to

promote energy efficiency, reduce pollution, and save money

for consumers, organizations, and

businesses. 

For more information on GSA’s

“green” products that are available

for purchase, please see GSA’s

Advantage Program, an online shopping service, at <www.fss.gsa.gov>.
A few examples of academia’s new

environmentally preferable procurement

strategies, documented in Green

Investment, Green Return, include

microscale science labs; integrated pest

management, native landscaping, and

groundcovers; and ecological building

design and maintenance. Other costsaving environmental purchasing efforts

documented in the report include energy

conservation, transportation, and reuse

in dining facilities. In addition, the book

Ecodemia, also written by Keniry, discusses in detail the methods public and

private universities employ when

procuring environmentally preferable

products.

Microscale Science

One procurement method that has significantly changed many university

chemistry laboratories is microscale science, a new way of conducting experiments using smaller amounts of chemicals and miniature glassware. This alternative teaching method was first

developed and used at Bowdoin College

in Brunswick, Maine, by Dr. Dana Mayo,

a chemistry professor. In the fall of

1979, Bowdoin faced serious air pollution problems in its organic chemistry

labs due to large amounts of chemicals

used in crowded and poorly ventilated

spaces. To remedy this situation, Bowdoin

was prepared to fund extensive and

expensive lab renovations. Instead, to

prevent pollution and avoid such costly

reconstruction, Mayo proposed a downscaling of the methodologies used to

perform experiments. By significantly

decreasing the amount of chemicals

purchased and lowering the disposal

fees for managing hazardous wastes,

Bowdoin reduced its annual organic laboratory operating costs by 87.5 percent.

The University of Minnesota (UM) is

another school benefitting from microscale science. Due to air and water quality regulations, UM developed a blend

of conventional and microscale lab experiments that reduce the use of heavy metals and hazardous solvents. The result

was an annual cost savings of $37,000.

Integrated Pest Management,

Native Landscaping, and

Groundcovers

Integrated pest management (IPM) and

native landscaping are methods of

grounds maintenance that reduce pesticide use. Rather than blanketing an area

with pesticides, IPM uses certain pesticides at specific times of the year to

control targeted pest populations.

Intended to complement IPM, native

landscaping uses local plant species as

primary vegetation. Both methods promote the growth of native plant and

animal species. James Luce, director of

grounds for Connecticut College, uses

native landscaping techniques, but relies

on IPM as a last resort. Instead of treating an existing problem, Luce prevents

pests and weeds from invading in the

first place. The college maintains taller

grass in its lawns, for example, to shade

out weeds. To avoid overgrown lawns,

the grounds crew mows more frequently.

According to Luce, “We’re doing different work, not more of it. Instead of spraying pesticides we are mowing the lawns

more frequently, composting leaves, and

< Savings for Academia - Continued From Page 1 >

Cost Savings from Reducing Hazardous Wastes Generated by Chemistry Labs 

at the University of Minnesota

Volume of waste Volume of waste Average disposal Annual

before conversion after conversion cost cost savings

2,500 gallons 23 gallons $15/gallon $37,000*

*The total cost of the lab conversion was $30,000, with most expenses covered by a grant from the Minnesota Office of Waste Management. 

The payback period for this initiative was less than 1 year.

< Continued on Page 12 >

Schools are 

discovering 

that EPP offers 

significant 

financial benefits.
4

I

n an effort to help federal Executive

branch agencies achieve their environmentally preferable purchasing

goals, EPA has published a notice of

availability of a Pilot Project Approach

on the Use of Nongovernmental Entities.

Examples of “nongovernmental entities”

include, but are not limited to, environmental standard setting organizations,

environmental labeling programs, and

third-party certification programs, to

which agencies may refer for technical

assistance in meeting EPP goals. EPA

acknowledged a potential role for such

entities in its proposed Guidance on the

Acquisition of Environmentally Preferable

Products and Services, published in

September 1995.

The purpose of the pilot

project approach is to

demonstrate how Executive

agencies can use nongovernmental entities to support

federal environmentally

preferable purchasing efforts.

EPA believes there are several

advantages to this approach.

First, it allows the EPP program to increase the variety

of product categories being

examined. Second, EPA can

determine when the use of

outside expertise is appropriate and helpful. Third,

results from the pilot will

help EPA identify the most

effective and practical ways

to achieve the goal of environmentally preferable purchasing. Finally, this

approach might encourage

increased competition

among existing and new

organizations and programs

that can support the procurement of environmentally

preferable products.

Public input is welcomed. If you are

interested in talking to EPA about this

issue, please contact Julie Shannon at

202 260-2736 or e-mail her at

<shannon.julie@epa.gov>. To obtain a

copy of the Nongovernmental Entity

Pilot Project Approach (document number EPA 742-B-98-003), write to the

Pollution Prevention Information

Clearinghouse (7409), U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20460; or call 

202 260-1023. You also can obtain the

document through fax on demand 

by dialing 202 401-0527 and requesting item 8001, or via the Internet at

<www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/>. ■

A New Pilot Approach for EPP

Suggested Approaches Using 

Nongovernmental Entities

Federal Agencies can use existing information developed by nongovernmental entities to:

–Identify a range of environmental attributes that

can contribute to EPA’s determination of environmental preferability.

–Buy commercial items off the shelves using literature provided by nongovernmental entities that

profiles product performance on environmental

attributes, so that informed procurement decisions

are made.

–Denote specific information about a product’s environmental characteristics through the use of symbols from nongovernmental entities in Executive

agency catalogs and schedules.

–Develop symbols to appear in agency catalogs and

schedules, using existing information about environmental attributes provided by nongovernmental

entities.

Use nongovernmental entities as “consultants”

under Advisory and Assistance Contracts.

Use nongovernmental entities qualified to certify

specific claims in order to verify environmental

claims made by manufacturers or vendors.

Nongovernmental

entities include, 

but are not limited 

to, environmental

standard setting

organizations,

environmental

labeling programs,

and third-party

certification

programs, to

which agencies

may refer 

for technical

assistance in

meeting EPP goals.
Environmental Protection 

Agency

www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp

and Toxics

(7409)

As of October 21,

1997, Federal

Acquisition

Regulations (FAR)

require all federal

agencies to

purchase

"environmentally

preferable and

energy-efficient

products and

services" (FAR

23.704). The DOD

parking lot contract

illustrates one way

of satisfying this FAR

requirement. 

After more than a year of experience with the “green” parking lot

contract, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are sharing the most recent

results of this Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) pilot project. This

fact sheet describes the project’s background and current status, highlights

recent project successes, suggests future challenges, and details the lessons

learned. It is an update to Paving the Road to Success, an EPP case study

published in November 1997 (EPA742-R-97-007). The full case study is

available via the EPP Web site <www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp> or by calling

the Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse at 202 260-1073.

Background

In June 1997, DOD awarded D-M&S, Inc., a 5-year, $1 million per year,

fixed-price, line-item contract to maintain and repair the parking lots and

access roads at the Pentagon and three other DOD facilities. The contract

includes traditional price and performance requirements as well as incentives

to use products with multiple, positive environmental attributes.

The contract includes work sheets for 20 product categories representing

90 percent of the materials used to repair and maintain the parking lots. Each

work sheet identifies the mandatory operational requirements for a product.

Eleven work sheets also include optional environmental attributes for which

D-M&S, with DOD approval, can earn a 2-percent price differential for each

attribute it incorporates up to a ceiling of 10 percent per line item and an

overall task-order price differential of 5 percent. The contract also provides

additional opportunities for the contractor to improve environmental performance and earn price differentials, which are subject to the same line-item and

task-order ceilings.

2Printed on paper that contains at least 20 percent postconsumer fiber.

1EPA Environmentally Preferable Purchasing In Action

Parking Lot Project Fact Sheet

An EPP Pilot Project Update

This fact sheet is designed to be removed from the EPP Update and kept with your

existing copy of Paving the Road to Success, the EPP case study documenting

DOD's parking lot pilot project. Living its mission, the EPP program determined

that it was more environmentally preferable to insert this fact sheet in the newsletter than to produce and deliver it separately.
Current Status

During the 15 months the contract has been in place, the contractor has used

products with positive environmental attributes to pave 227,934 square feet of

parking lots and roadways. When compared to traditional products, the contractor’s products have increased recycled-content percentages, reduced volatile

organic compound (VOC) levels, and decreased overall toxicity.

Project Successes

While this pilot project has enjoyed many successes, the two most recent success stories involve identifying new environmental attributes and promoting the

wide-spread use of environmental products.

Identifying New Environmental Attributes

To prepare the contract work sheets, the DOD/EPA team used publicly available information and conducted a limited market survey to identify the environmental attributes. The team believed it would be challenging for the contractor

to locate products exceeding the attributes it identified.

A few months into the contract, however, D-M&S had already identified eight

products exceeding the environmental criteria detailed on the work sheets and

had proposed an environmental attribute for several products for which DOD

had not identified any criteria. The contractor conducted an extensive Internet

search and queried numerous contacts and suppliers throughout the paving and

road construction industry looking for products with improved environmental

performance. “All we needed to know,” according to Sam Croghan, a cost-estimator

with D-M&S, “[was] what types of environmental information to look for.”

Promoting the Wide-Spread Use of Environmental Products

Several of the products D-M&S identified as environmentally preferable perform better than traditional products. In fact, the contractor is using them on

other projects, not because of their environmental features, but by virtue of their

Use of Environmentally Preferable Products

Since the contract began, the DOD contractor has used:

• 3,328 tons of recycled asphalt

• 1,031 tons of recycled concrete

• 300 cubic yards of concrete containing recovered materials

• 3,558 linear feet of recovered glass for reflective surfaces

• 5,200 linear feet of an asphalt sealer containing recovered crumb rubber

• 3,558 linear feet of paint containing less than 50 grams per liter of VOCs

• 24,324 square feet of low VOC concrete curing compound

• 5,200 linear feet of recovered-content asphalt joint sealant

227,934 square feet

of parking lots and

roadways have been

paved with products

that contain positive

environmental

attributes.
performance. As a result, the use of environmental products is spreading beyond

the scope of the pilot project, achieving one of the goals of the DOD/EPA pilot

project team and of the EPP program. It also demonstrates that environmental

improvements can be made without compromising cost or performance.

In addition, several organizations have contacted DOD and EPA regarding

the environmental language used in the parking lot repair and renovation contract. Several cities, counties, and municipalities are considering incorporating

similar language into their contracts.

Future Challenges

Currently, DOD officials can readily determine if a proposed product

improves environmental performance because the parking lot contract clearly

identifies the environmental attributes on 11 of the 20 product work sheets. If a

work sheet identifies a VOC content of less than 80 g/L as environmentally

desirable, for example, and the contractor proposes a product containing 

60 g/L, the new product is considered environmentally preferable. 

Determining environmental preferability will likely become more difficult as

the contract continues, however. DOD, for example, is currently evaluating two

competing sealants—a traditional sealant with environmental criteria defined on

an existing product work sheet and another potentially revolutionary product

that is more durable. While durability is generally a positive environmental

attribute, it does not necessarily mean the new product is more environmentally

preferable. It is possible, for example, that the processes used to manufacture

the more durable product require more energy to produce and transport the

product or are more toxic than those used to produce the traditional product.

These additional environmental concerns might negate the environmental

improvements attributed to its increased durability. From an environmental lifecycle perspective, it is still unclear which product is preferable.

At this point, DOD, EPA, and D-M&S have asked the manufacturer of the

new sealant for additional environmental information about its product. The

information provided by the manufacturer will help DOD determine which of

the two competing sealants to use. Until the environmental benefits of competing products are clearly defined, traditional measures like price and performance

will remain the primary determining factors.

This situation highlights the complexities associated with comparing the

environmental attributes of two different types of products designed to perform

the same function. As new environmental attributes are introduced, these decisions will continue to become more complex. It also should lead to the development of new environmental decision-making tools.

Lessons Learned

In addition to the lessons cited in the full case study, recent contract experiences demonstrate that contractors can locate environmental products as part of

routine project performance, price differentials might not be necessary, and

environmentally preferable does not necessarily mean “more expensive.”

New environmental

decision-making tools

will continue to

develop as more

environmental

attributes are

introduced to products.
Contractors Can Locate Environmental Products

D-M&S’s ability to collect information on the environmental attributes of

the products used under the parking lot renovation and repair contract suggests construction contractors might be in a better position than federal

purchasers to identify the environmental attributes of construction products

because of the contractors’ previous experience with the products and their

contacts throughout the industry. After DOD identified the environmental

attributes of concern, D-M&S obtained product information that allowed

DOD to compare products based on their environmental performance. This

experience suggests the contracting mechanisms used in this innovative contract might be appropriate in other situations.

Price Differentials Might Not Be Necessary

The DOD/EPA team included price differentials in the contract fearing

small businesses would not otherwise be able to afford to conduct the product research. D-M&S claims, however, the price differentials had no effect

on its decision to bid on the project. According to Mr. Croghan, the 

2-percent price differential is not nearly as important or as profitable as the

following:

• Keeping the customer happy.

• Gaining knowledge and experience in identifying and working with

environmental products and processes.

• Using the experience working with environmental products and

processes to distinguish D-M&S from its competitors.

Environmentally Preferable Does Not Mean ‘More Expensive’

After more than one year of experience with the contract, the average

cost for the work completed is significantly lower than similar work on other

DOD parking lot repair contracts, which do not include environmental features. The price differential has increased expected contract costs by only

0.5 percent. In fact, even if the contractor had earned the maximum price

differentials as defined in the contract, the average costs still would be lower

than other DOD parking lot repair and maintenance contracts. 

Bob Cox, the DOD program manager for the contract, attributes the

favorable contract price to DOD’s competitive contracting process and the

traditional evaluation factors—price and performance. Furthermore, as a

fixed-price, line-item contract, the contractor, not DOD, absorbs any cost

difference between the contractor’s proposed line-item cost and actual costs.

The contractor might be making additional profits on some line items and

losing money on others, but the cost to the government does not change.

“With this contract,” according to Mr. Cox, “DOD is receiving a quality

product with improved environmental performance at a lower cost, which

proves you do not have to pay more to go ‘green.’”

“No one will get

rich off of the price

differential, but we

believe the

knowledge we gain

will bring us a lot of

future business.”

— Sam Croghan, 

D-M&S, Inc.

DOD Parking Lot 

Repair Contractor
EPA is currently developing guidance to help conference planners

incorporate comprehensive environmental improvements into their

events planning. The final product, an

interactive, Web-based, multimedia

planning tool, will answer important

questions about how to plan a “green”

conference.

EPA recognizes that conferences and

large meetings consume a significant

amount of natural resources and generate large volumes of waste. From the

initial planning stages to the distribution of the proceedings, conference

organizers and participants use pamphlets, flyers, papers, and presentation

materials; consume food, water, and

electricity; and require many forms of

transportation. Since these conferences

and meetings involve many people,

these events also are highly visible, providing opportunities to raise environmental awareness and to practice pollution prevention. 

A number of documents already exist

on holding “green” conferences. Most of

these documents, however, focus on

particular conference elements, such as

specific pollution prevention opportunities within waste management or general pollution prevention opportunities

within the lodging service sector. In an

effort to fill the gap, EPA’s green conferencing tool will provide a comprehensive overview of the different stages,

products, and services involved in conference planning and the “green”

opportunities within each. 

The Web-based tool will undergo

three stages of development. In the first

stage, existing information on conference planning will be identified, compiled, and organized into a comprehensive list of environmental opportunities.

For easy access by conference planners,

these opportunities will be chronologically organized by service sector and

inserted into a matrix. The second stage

involves testing each opportunity at an

actual conference from an environmental, logistical, and economical perspective. These first two stages are expected

to be completed in July 1999. The third

and final development stage involves

the actual production of the interactive,

Web-based, multimedia tool. Based on

the results of the test experience, the

opportunities will be grouped on the

Web according to their ease and difficulty of implementation, economic

costs and savings, and environmental

return. EPA intends to widely publicize

this information to all event planners

and sponsors. For more information on

this project, please e-mail Russell Clark

at EPA at <clark.russell@epa.gov>. ■

EPA’s Web-based

“green” conferencing tool will provide

a comprehensive

overview of the

different stages,

products, and services involved in

conference planning and the

“green” opportunities within each. 

“Green” Conference Planning
10

EPA recently had the opportunity to put environmentally preferable purchasing into practice when deciding what brand of copier

paper to purchase. For the past several years, EPA

has purchased a brand of paper containing 100 percent recovered fiber, including 50 percent postconsumer fiber. After learning that this brand would be

discontinued in 1997, the Agency began investigating which new paper to purchase. 

EPA’s print shop, which is responsible for purchasing paper through the Government Printing Office

(GPO), suggested that a pilot be conducted to test a

paper with at least 30 percent postconsumer content.

This standard was chosen because it puts the Agency

in compliance well ahead of the December 1998

deadline issued by Executive Order 12873, which

requires federal agencies to purchase 30 percent postconsumer copier paper by the end of the year.

In addition to recycled content, the print shop also

wanted to consider other environmentally preferable

product attributes for the paper it was seeking to

buy. With the help of the EPP program, EPA identified several environmental attributes related to copier

paper and then determined how to fit the attributes

into the procurement process. GPO is supportive of

the goals of the pilot and has provided invaluable

input throughout the process.

The final contract language will require bidders’

products to meet current GPO performance requirements and contain a minimum of 30 percent postconsumer recycled content. Beyond that, bidders

also will be invited to voluntarily document their

progress with regards to a number of additional environmental attributes. Their progress will then be

weighed along with price, in a best-value, rather

than low-bid, procurement approach. 

The details of this innovative paper procurement

will be shared in a pre-bid conference that will convene this fall.

Public feedback on the

voluntary attributes will be

welcomed by GPO at the pre-bid

conference. The U.S. Department of

Justice, DOE, and the U.S. Department

of Interior have all expressed interest in joining the

pilot project and will soon review the contract language to make their official commitments.

For more information on EPA’s copier paper pilot

project, please e-mail Russell Clark, EPA, at

<clark.russell@epa.gov>. ■

GREEN BUILDING CHALLENGE ‘98

October 25 to 28, 1998

Vancouver, British Columbia,

Canada.

Contact: Nils Larsson, Phone: 

613 769-1242, Fax: 613 996-9416, 

E-mail: larsson@greenbuilding.ca.

Attendees: Green building

researchers, designers, developers,

and investors.

ECOEXPO 1999 

May 3 to 5, 1999

Anaheim, CA.

National Marketplace for the

Environment, 800 334-3976.

Attendees: Federal procurement,

contract, maintenance, and managerial personnel.

Private-sector attendees: procurement

and environmental officers, engineers,

designers, office managers, fleet managers, marketing and sales executives,

consultants, and investors.

84TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL

PURCHASING CONFERENCE AND

EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT

May 23 to 26, 1999

San Diego Marriott & Marina, San

Diego, CA.

Contact: Jolene Gulley or Judy

Welp, Phone: 800 888-6276, Ext.

3008 or 3049.

Attendees: Senior buyers, purchasing

agents, purchasing and materials

managers, directors and vice presidents of purchasing and materials.

EPP Upcoming Events

For a list of other EPP events, or to post an event of your own, 

refer to the EPP Web site at <www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp>.

EPA Initiates Copier Paper Pilot Project
One-Stop Shopping for Green Product

Standards Information

The EPP Team is developing a database that will

give federal purchasers and others access to U.S.

and international green product standards for a

variety of products. Initial research for product

information on existing Internet resources has

been completed, and a draft structure for the

database has been created. To assure that this

resource is user friendly and meets the needs of

federal purchasers, the EPP Team is in the process

of obtaining user input on the database’s structure.

After revisions are made, the database will be

beta tested before it is made publicly available.

Future phases of the database will include links

to existing federal, state, and local specifications

in contracts for greener products, as well as standards information. For more information on this

effort or to learn how you can provide comments

on the draft structure, please e-mail Holly Elwood

at <elwood.holly@epa.gov>.

Learning from the Private Sector

Many companies in the United States and

abroad have already attained impressive results

from their environmental purchasing efforts.

These “recipes of success” also can be applied

to the public sector. The EPP Team is currently

compiling data on these corporate efforts and

plans to publish a corporate case study report,

in both hard copy and on the EPP Web site.

For more information on this research, e-mail

Holly Elwood at <Elwood.Holly@epa.gov>.

EPP on the Web

EPA’s new EPP Web site will be available on the

Internet at <www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp> by midOctober. You’ll find useful information on the

EPP program, access to EPP publications, examples of EPP success stories, environmental purchasing tools for purchasers and suppliers, and

information on upcoming EPP events. The new

EPP Web site also will feature a discussion bulletin board in an effort to collect and share information related to environmental purchasing. EPA

will continue to improve and expand the Web site

features in the future, so check the site frequently. 

EPPNET Provides Forum for Discussion

The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) hosts

EPPNET, an environmentally preferable products discussion list server. EPPNET provides an

open forum for posting and discussing news

and information on the procurement of environmentally preferable products such as product specifications, vendor lists, pricing, strategies to achieve EPP goals, and federal procurement policies. EPPNET is open to all public

and private sector procurement officials and

advocates of environmentally preferable procurement. To subscribe to EPPNET, send an 

e-mail to <epratt@sover.net> describing your

job and place of employment. NERC preapproves all EPPNET members. Also, send an

e-mail message to <lyris@aladdin.webrover.com>

with SUBSCRIBE EPPNET<FIRST NAME>

<LAST NAME> on the subject line or in the

body of the message. If you have questions

about EPPNET, or if you experience problems

with the server, contact Ellen Pratt with NERC

at <epratt@sover.net> or 802 254-3636. 

Massachusetts Case Study Available Soon

Green Spending—A Case Study of Massachusetts’

Environmental Purchasing Program (EPA742-R98-002) is the most recent EPP publication.

The case study describes how Massachusetts

incorporated environmental attributes into its

purchasing process and how it spread the word

to Commonwealth purchasers about the importance of buying environmental products. This

publication, as well as all other EPP documents, can be obtained free of charge by calling

EPA’s Pollution Prevention Information

Clearinghouse at 202 260-1023, by e-mailing

PPIC at <ppic@epa.gov>, or by accessing the

EPP Web site at <www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp>.

EPP Pilot Project Group List

Interested in learning more about the EPP program’s pilot projects? EPP created a group 

e-mail list to keep interested parties updated

on pilot project activities and opportunities. To

be added to the group list, e-mail your request

to <epp.pilot@epa.gov>.

EPP Resources
1EPA

United States 

Environmental Protection Agency

401 M Street, SW. (7409)

Washington, DC 20460

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use

$300

planting endophytic (naturally pest-resistant) plants and

grasses.

“The university has saved substantially by using

these alternative methods because they don’t require purchasing expensive pesticide chemicals or application

equipment.” In other words, the potentially higher

costs for practicing IPM and native landscaping are offset by lowered chemical costs.

Seattle University also has achieved considerable

annual cost savings through environmentally preferable

landscaping. Grounds Manager Ciscoe Morris used

dense-growing “weed fighter” groundcovers to obtain

weed-free areas within 3 years, while reducing chemical inputs, reducing soil loss due to erosion, and lowering equipment maintenance costs. Thanks to its use

of groundcovers, the university saves $1,300 annually.

Ecological Building Design and Maintenance 

Ecological building design and maintenance, or “green

building,” is another new purchasing practice that

saves money. Universities are “going green” by

installing low-flow shower and faucet heads, weatherstripping windows and doors, installing motion sensors

for lights, and taking advantage of solar energy for

heating and lighting. The Energy and Environmental

Education building at the University of Northern Iowa,

for example, uses daylighting (the illumination of

rooms with sunlight) to reduce the need for electrical

lighting. In addition, the building minimizes fuel consumption by using direct sunlight as a primary source

of heat. Architects incorporated energy conservation

into the building design by choosing construction

materials that require less energy to produce and transport. The structure’s limestone, for example, came

from a local quarry. Northern Iowa’s green building

initiatives reduced the school’s annual energy expenditures by 50 percent, while initial construction costs

remained comparable to those of a regular building.

These are just a few EPP strategies that have proven

to be both financially and environmentally rewarding.

All across the country, academic institutions are finding that protecting the environment and cutting costs

go hand in hand. For further information on environmentally preferable purchasing, call NWF’s Campus

Ecology Program at 202 797-5468. To order Green

Investment, Green Return (094-505-1654, $14.95) call

410 516-6583. For general information about the

Campus Ecology Program, call 703 790-4318, or visit

the NWF Web site at <www.nwf.org/campus>. ■

< Savings for Academia - Continued From Page 3 >