Green purchasing, green procurement, environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP), buying green, green shopping - by any name we call it, it is enjoying a resurgence, if not a new high, in attention from the media, industries, government agencies, and citizens.  What's it all about?

 
Green purchasing is buying products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. Green purchasing includes the acquisition of recycled content products, other environmentally preferable products and services, bio-based products, energy- and water-efficient products, alternate fuel vehicles, products using renewable energy, and alternatives to hazardous or toxic chemicals. The environmental impacts apply over their lifecycle from extraction of raw materials, through manufacturing, packaging, distribution, use, reuse, operation, maintenance, and disposal. To become a savvy green purchasing official you need to know which EPP practices will reduce a product's or service's effect on the environment and how to measure results.

Speakers:

Chris O'Brien, Director, Responsible Purchasing Network

Marcia Deegler, Director, Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Environmental Purchasing, Operational Services Division