The Federal GREEN Purchasing Program

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download, to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader.

The White House Task Force on Waste Prevention and Recycling, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), assist Federal agencies to reduce their impacts on the environment through a variety of means, including promoting the purchasing and use of recycled content, environmentally preferable, and biobased products; non-ozone depleting substances; and products containing alternatives to certain priority chemicals and utilize sustainable practices. Below is just a sampling of the information that this site can provide. Please visit the main site

for additional information.

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP)

Buying Green On-line (PDF file) – E-Procurement of Office Supplies (EPA February 2004- This report provides an overview of recent federal government office supply e-procurement initiatives and includes references to specific products and technologies.

Recycled Content Products (RCRA 6002)

EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines

Sustainable Buildings/Green Building Guide

FREE Green Building Products New Software Now Available
Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability software

brings to your fingertips a powerful technique for selecting cost-effective, environmentally-preferable building products. A compact disc and print manual can be ordered through the EPA Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse at (202) 260-1023 or e-mail ppic@epa.gov.

Green Travel and Green Meetings - Concern about the environment has created a new approach to the travel business, often referred to as "green travel" or "ecotourism." Ecotourism is about making sure that human beings minimize the footprints they leave on the earth. Information and tools are now available to help make green meetings

easier than ever! To find the information most relevant to you depending on who you are, start by going to EPA's green meetings.

Planners and Suppliers who want to provide GREEN in their meetings should visit BlueGreen Meetings

for tips and tools. The tool shows meeting planners and service suppliers how to incorporate green principles into every aspect of conference and meeting planning.

Beneficial Landscaping - The physical modification or ornamentation of the exterior environment to serve the needs of people is the broad definition of landscaping. This includes planting, altering the contours of the ground, and building structures and amenities such as pedestrian ways, paths and picnic areas. Landscaping activities can have negative impacts on the environment by requiring excessive consumption of natural resources, increased flooding, and loss of biodiversity. EO 13148 requires the use of environmentally beneficial landscaping. Such landscaping takes native species, water availability, flood impact and other concerns into account. By incorporating native plants into the landscape a wider variety of birds, insects and maybe even mammals are attracted. A detailed discussion of the EO can be found in EPA's Environmentally Beneficial Landscaping brochure.

The Federal Electronics Challenge (FEC)

is a voluntary partnership program that encourages Federal facilities and agencies to purchase greener electronic products, reduce impacts of electronic products during use, and manage obsolete electronics in an environmentally safe way.

The Federal GREEN Purchasing Program

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