In response to President Clinton's Section 503 mandate in Executive Order on Federal Acquisition, Recycling and Waste Prevention (EO #12873), EPA today published proposed guidance for Executive Agencies on identifying and giving preference to purchases of environmentally preferable products and services. "Environmentally preferable" is defined in the Executive Order to mean 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. EPA is taking a two-pronged approach in meeting the President's mandate. First, EPA developed general guidance for acquisition of environmentally preferable products, creating a broad framework for dialogue on environmental preferability of products and services as applicable within the Federal purchasing context. This is EPA's first comprehensive articulation of policy on "green" products and is expected to evolve over time. Second, in conjunction with other Executive agencies, EPA will undertake a series of pilot projects that focus on specific product categories. These pilots will test the concepts and principles outlined in the proposed general guidance. The results will be tailored to produce more in-depth information for the acquisition community in purchasing environmentally preferable products. Though intended primarily for the Federal government, the general guidance published under this initiative should also provide pragmatic direction for companies working to produce more environmentally preferable products and services and seek to sell those products and services to the Federal government. A public meeting is planned for Oct. 26-27, 1995 to solicit input on the proposed guidance. The proposed guidance and notice of the public meeting is published in today's Federal Register.

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