Adopt a sustainable purchasing policy or administrative guidelines/practices directing that the city purchase at least:
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
 |
Have a written policy/guidelines/practices specifying at a minimum purchase of Energy Star and/or EPEAT equipment/appliances, and/or recycled-content paper (at least 50% post-consumer, or at least 10% of copy paper with 100% recycled content); require the purchase of remanufactured toner cartridges or high yield OEM cartridges when purchasing monochrome printer cartridges. Report street lighting/traffic signal policy/purchases under action 4.2; vehicle policy/purchases under 13.2 and 13.3 |
 |
Have a formal policy adopted by the city council; note if this includes centralized purchasing into one office/person. |
 |
Have a broad policy covering purchases such as janitorial supplies; for the city’s top 10 categories of spend, track the purchases of sustainable products/services purchased annually compared to non-sustainable products/services purchased; join with other cities in joint purchasing of environmentally preferable products and summarize EPP purchases; certify under the State Electronics Challenge program. |
Resources
- The content and structure of your EPP policy will depend on your organization’s needs and priorities. At the very least, a good EPP policy should encompass six Key Components developed in 2013 by a Minnesota network of environmental and purchasing staff from county and city governments, coordinated by the MPCA. Learn more about sustainable purchasing generally at the MPCA sustainable purchasing program website.
- Recycled-content paper is covered in the MN Pollution Control Agency's EPP web page. Buying paper in bulk/with others can bring the cost of 30% recycled content paper down to the cost of virgin paper. Coupled with paper use reduction strategies and purchase of monochrome high-yield remanufactured toner cartridges, this GreenStep action will save money for the city. A paper calculator can help you calculate the impacts of paper reduction.
- Purchasing more sustainable IT products and appliances - for example, products with greater lifespans and energy efficiency - is more cost effective in many cases. Products with EPEAT or U.S. EPA-sponsored EnergyStar registration can provide these benefits. EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) allows purchasers to evaluate, compare and select electronic products based on their environmental attributes. See also MPCA's sustainable procurement web page.
- See the State Electronics Challenge program.
- Minnesota's Cooperative Purchasing Venture highlights state contracts in place that directly reduce the adverse environmental impacts of purchased goods and services. Cities can access the state of Minnesota purchasing contracts, all of which are competitively bid, in place for 1-5 years with price stability and often with extra performance or sustainability requirements. Three other purchasing groups are Sourcewell, the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, and the Cooperative Purchasing Connection (which partners with Sourcewell), formed in 1976 following legislation in Minnesota, by 8 school service cooperatives in the state to provide for the smallest schools, cities, counties, nonprofits and other governmental agencies.
- Use the International Dark-Sky Association Lighting for Policy Makers guide to promote reduced/smarter outdoor lighting. See the GreenStep Dark Skies best practices for more.
Sublist
a. EnergyStar and EPEAT certified equipment and appliances.
b. Paper containing post-consumer recycled content.
Order Number
1
Action Type
Finite