Environmentally Preferable Purchasing in Environmental Systems

How can you include environmentally preferable purchasing in your site's Environmental Management System?

• Set a goal to include the purchase of environmentally preferable products in your site's Environmental Management System and transition to at least one such product a year
• Survey your organization's purchasing and resulting waste
• Recognize that products purchased today often become tomorrow's environmental management problems
• Identify mechanisms for buying environmental products
  
  • Credit card purchases - Statements of work
  • Service contracts - Requests for proposal
  • Electronic catalogs
• Conduct pilot projects
• Evaluate progress and renew efforts according to results
• Communicate benefits

For further information on including environmentally preferable purchasing in your site's Environmental Management System, see the

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Integrating Green Purchasing into Your Environmental Management System
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Integrating Environmentally Beneficial Landscaping into Your Environmental Management System
• U.S. Department of Energy's Guide 450.1-5 Implementation Guide for Integrating Pollution Prevention into Environmental Management Systems
• U.S. Department of Energy's Legacy Management overview of their EMS Program: Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
• U.S. Department of Energy's Strategic Petroleum Reserve EPP/EMS Integration Example: Paint

Send all comments, technical questions, and requests for password access to:
HSS User Support
P2Support@hq.doe.gov
(800) 473-4375