Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8.4.3
Preferential Purchasing Policies
The implementation of
preferential purchasing policies
can have a much wider
impact across a range of different product sectors, while being relatively cheap
and simple to implement. Governments have significant spending power and
typically a large estate to manage. As a result they can dictate or encourage
purchasing policies and purchasing decisions, taking greater account of environ-
mental issues in balancing the costs of different options. Large corporations,
particularly well-known brand owners, operate similar policies in support of their
corporate sustainability policies. These approaches have the advantage of working
across a wide range of commodities. Decisions can be rapidly implemented and
devolved to local level and have a direct impact.
8.4.3.1
BioPreferred Programme
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the Environmentally
Preferable Purchasing Program (EPPP) in 1993 to help federal officials meet
sustainable purchasing requirements. Federal agencies are expected to
consider products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human
health and the environment when buying products and services. In doing so,
agencies are using the federal government's enormous buying power (about
$350 billion) to stimulate market demand for green products and services.
They must consider the costs and benefits of various green products and ser-
vices, using information provided by the EPA in the form of web-mounted
databases and other resources to identify better practices and potential service
providers. 'Environmentally preferred' does not necessarily mean biobased,
but it provides an important framework to focus attention on such products
and thereby stimulate uptake.
As an adjunct to the EPPP, to increase the purchase and use of biobased
products the US BioPreferred program was created by the Farm Security and
Rural Investment Act of 2002 (2002 Farm Bill, and expanded in the later 2008
Farm Bill). The BioPreferred program is managed by the US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) and involves: (1) the certification and award of labels to
qualifying products to increase consumer recognition of biobased products;
and (2) supporting Federal procurement by identifying and designating cate-
gories (currently 97 product categories are covered) of biobased products that
should be afforded preference when making purchasing decisions (under
EPPP requirements).
Around 10,000 products are currently listed by the BioPreferred program, with
the potential for many more. According to the USDA [4], federal agencies and the
US Department of Defense spent approximately US$ 500 billion (£316 billion) on
biobased products up to 2012, increasing awareness of biobased products and
their manufacturers and creating 100,000 jobs.
