As interest and consumer demand grows for “green” products, and as producers realize increased market share in food products and consumer goods, public procurement, covering all federal and sub-central purchasing of countries throughout the world, is becoming an increasingly important market force. Just one web service, the Recycling Data Network Information Services, lists a recycled-content products database of over 4,500 listings in 700 product classifications. The US government alone purchases more than $200 billion worth of products and services annually and provides an additional $240 billion to grantees that, in turn, buy products and services. Sub-central and local markets are equally valuable in aggregate terms. The environmentally preferable procurement market is also becoming increasingly sophisticated. This includes preferences based on product attributes—ranging from energy efficiency to the amount of air, soil, and water pollution generated while making the product and waste disposal, recycled content resource use, transportation and durability. Many of these attributes are process-, rather than product-based, and are evaluated by one or more of the many private-sector and government-sponsored programs that evaluate and certify products for their “green” characteristics. |
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