May 10, 2007
King County's environmental purchasing program paying green dividends
Emphasis on environmentally sound products saves county $640,000
Efforts to safeguard the environment when purchasing things like recycled paper, toner cartridges, biodiesel and hybrid cars are saving King County money and supporting markets for green products.
"Every purchase we make – as a government or as individuals – has an impact on human health and the environment, so we have a responsibility to soften these impacts when we can," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "King County agencies purchased $36 million worth of environmentally-preferable products in 2006, and yet these purchases also brought $640,000 in savings to county agencies. That's just good government."
The numbers were reported in the King County Environmental Purchasing Program 2006 annual report submitted last week to the County Council.
King County's Environmental Purchasing Policy reflects a long-term commitment to the purchase of environmentally preferable products. In 1989, King County adopted its original recycled product procurement policy in response to overburdened landfills and the need to create markets for newly collected recyclables. Since every purchase has an impact on human health and the environment, the goal of policy is to mitigate these impacts whenever feasible. Environmentally preferable procurement considers multiple product attributes, such as toxicity, durability, recycled content and conservation of resources, in addition to price, performance and availability.
The county's Environmental Purchasing Program provides county personnel with information and technical assistance to help them identify and evaluate, and ultimately buy, economical and effective environmentally preferable products and services.
Since 1990, the program has earned awards and accolades from many organizations, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the National Association of Counties (NACo), and continues to be a central resource for jurisdictions and other organizations across the nation. Last year, program staff continued its integral role in the development of a national membership- based non-profit organization called the "Responsible Purchasing Network" (RPN), serving on the steering committee.
Recycled paper is used for all major government functions, including more than nine million bus schedules annually, tax statements, court forms, pet license notifications, business cards, reports, stationery, and internal printing. Other purchases include: remanufactured toner cartridges; re-refined antifreeze and motor-oil; ultra-low sulfur diesel; biodiesel; hybrid vehicles; bio-based oils; low-VOC asphalt cold-patch; plastic lumber, compost, shredded wood-waste and tire-retreading services. In addition to their environmental benefits, many of these products are more economical than those they replace.
Program success depends on enabling agencies to obtain the benefit of the new opportunities being created in a changing marketplace by supporting them with information and technical assistance. In addition to producing educational seminars on specific opportunities, the program makes extensive use of the Internet, using email to distribute an "Environmental Purchasing Bulletin" and maintaining a Web site to make information available to agencies, suburban cities, and the community at-large on the environmental purchasing experience of county agencies.
The purchasing program reports annually on the status of policy implementation and the environmental purchasing accomplishments of agencies. King County's Procurement and Contract Services, Finance and Business Operations Division, in the Department of Executive Services, administers the program.
Learn more about King County's environmental purchasing efforts.