The blog is on the road with Scot Case, Vice President of TerraChoice Environmental Marketing. Read what he has to say about an educational conference he recently spoke at…

Greetings!

When I spoke about green purchasing at a National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) conference ten years ago, there were six people in the room and three of them were speakers.

At this year’s event, the entire conference was green. The NIGP Annual Forum and Products Exposition that took place from July 26 to 30, 2008, demonstrates a real shift toward sustainability. It had numerous green purchasing sessions and an entire “Green Alley” on the trade show floor devoted to green products and services. NIGP is also to be commended for its efforts in “greening” the conference. From reducing large binders full of paper to a CD and using compostable cups for water instead of bottles, this conference made a difference by lessening its impact on the environment.

Also of note at this event was the launch of the Green Knowledge Community.

“Created as a benefit for members, the Green Knowledge Community provides easy access to resources and tools to help public purchasers make informed decisions about green policies and products,” says Belinda Reutter, Member Services Director at NIGP. “This resource is primarily for educational purposes and brings together experts to share information about environmentally preferable products and social and economic responsibility in public procurement.”

To learn more about NIGP’s Green Knowledge Community, click here.

- Scot Case

TerraChoice Environmental Marketing recently released its EcoMarkets 2008 Summary Report to the public and the results have to be shared. Here is a sneak-peek at some of the findings:

· Over $78 billion of purchasing power is represented in this study and the majority of survey respondents control at least half of their organization’s total procurement budget.

· Sixty-eight percent (68%) of North American organizations increased their green purchasing in the past 12 months and 91% of purchasers believe they will become more active green purchasers over the next two years.

· An overwhelming majority of survey respondents (72%) believe eco-labels contribute to better purchasing decisions.

· Purchasers identified the eco-labels they rely on most frequently to help make purchasing decisions. Results show that Energy Star (60%) and EcoLogo (27%) are the most frequently-used eco-labels.

The purpose of the EcoMarkets 2008 Summary Report is to inform our clients, partners and public audiences about the attitudes and practices of North American buyers towards environmentally preferable purchasing. The report is a public summary of research conducted in 2007 and 2008 in partnership with the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation and with the Responsible Purchasing Network – a project of the Center for a New American Dream.

To get a free copy of the EcoMarkets 2008 Summary Report, email Melissa Peneycad at ecomarkets@terrachoice.com.

OfficeMax had some really cool news out last week. The green-savvy retailer has partnered with the award-winning, green start-up company TerraCycle. OfficeMax is launching the partnership with seven TerraCycle products including a line of EcoLogo-certified, TerraCycle Natural Cleaners. Besides being plant-based, non-toxic and biodegradable, these cleaners are packaged directly in used soda bottles! Talk about innovative recycling.

TerraCycle has a storied if still-short history in bringing eco-friendly products to market. The company, founded by 25-year-old Tom Szaky started out with worm poop plant food, making it big with distribution through WalMart and The Home Depot in 2005.

Meanwhile OfficeMax is one of several retailers on a quest to become one of the greenest big-box stores around. And as more and more retailers fight for top green honors, certifications from accredited ecolabelers like EcoLogo grow increasingly important for retail suppliers. TerraCycle certainly makes for tough supplier competition.

Last week the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) published its latest report on the efforts of federal agencies to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices. The report comes out every two years and covers a wide range of environmental impact areas. Among the findings: by the end of fiscal year 2006, “most of the largest [federal] purchasing agencies, as well as many of the other executive agencies, had developed or were developing comprehensive integrated green purchasing programs.” That’s great news because it means governmental organizations should drive growth in green manufacturing. Earlier this year I referenced the Department of Defense’s green procurement policy and the associated financial incentive for the DOD’s suppliers to offer green products. Clearly financial incentives to go green have expanded significantly across the government sector.

The OFEE also went beyond tracking the purchasing plans of federal agencies in its report and attempted to measure where implementations of new green purchasing policies have been successful. For example, federal agencies are now actively seeking computer products that reduce standby power. It is estimated that bringing power consumption down on standby mode could save taxpayers more than $400 million in annual energy costs over the next six years, and should save enough equivalent energy to power 630,000 homes for one year.

Other examples of success include an increase in the number of biobased products (cleaning products, solvents, etc.) being used and tested by federal agencies, and the fact that the IRS prints all annual income tax forms on recycled content paper.

All in all, there is more green purchasing going on. And more green purchasing means more money in the green supply chain.

I started buying organic milk recently, and while I love that I’m lessening my environmental impact, I’m not wild about the higher price. The fact is that buying green is not always the cheapest option, at least in the short term. However, there are different ways to look at pricing. What’s the value of the product? What’s the life cycle cost? What are the long-term implications of the cost of a product? Most of these considerations won’t help with my milk buying, but they do help with other kinds of purchasing.

In talking with Scot Case (long-time environmental professional and TerraChoice VP) a while back, he pointed out that a lot of organizations use different kinds of pricing calculators to facilitate the procurement process. For example, if you measure the life cycle cost of a range of products, you may find that the cheapest one in the short term is the most expensive over the lifetime of that product. Think about compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). They cost more outright, but they last longer and use less electricity, making them cheaper overall.

Less common than life cycle calculators are value pricing calculators. These calculators take into account different product factors like price, performance and environmental impact. Products get points for each category, and the total scores are compared for the product with the best value.

For a real-life example of pricing analysis I talked to the folks over at SCA Tissue about how they sell their EcoLogo-certified paper products to their business customers. I was told that one of SCA’s popular products is something called the Xpressnap system. It’s a controlled-consumption dispenser that limits consumer napkin usage. Less waste = good for the environment. Less material needed = good for the business bottom line. In a life cycle cost review, Xpressnap is less expensive overall than other competitive products. It’s a good selling point, and one that SCA has used very successfully with big-business customers.

Green Biz reports in a recent article that small businesses make up 99.9% of all businesses in the US and employ half the private sector workforce. Put together that represents a lot of clout - whether you’re talking about lobbying Congress or influencing an environmental movement.

Of course, each small business is its own entity, which means that individuals in these companies have to take on the challenge of making big changes. It’s fun, however, to play the “What if?” game. What if every small business in the US instituted a green procurement policy? Replaced incandescent light bulbs with CFLs? Reduced waste? Increased energy efficiency? Imagine the impact.

Fortunately, there are a number of resources for small companies looking to do their part. The Green Biz article points to the Small Business Environmental Home Page, for example, which links to a phenomenal number of local resources across the country. And EcoLogo can help with your green shopping list for office purchases. Find green products in the categories of:

• Office furniture
• Office paneling
• Office machines and printing cartridges
• Paper products including forms and envelopes
• Pens and pencils

Small business. Big impact.

Breaking up with a supplier is no easy matter, but companies are increasingly putting out “Dear John” letters to long-time vendors in an effort to green their supply chains. Most recently, Staples very publicly fired its paper supplier over concerns of deforestation practices. Among other problems, Greenpeace had charged the vendor of illegal logging in Chinese forests, and Staples stated that remaining with the supplier would be a “great peril to [its] brand.”

Staples is not alone. When New York State put in place a mandate that all cleaning materials used in schools must be EcoLogo or Green Seal certified, several suppliers were shown the door. Also in New York, Crown Vic cabs were given the old heave-ho when taxi companies had to upgrade their fleets to fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles. And most recently, a major restaurant supplier (not to be named at the moment) fired its long-standing paper-goods supplier in favor of one with EcoLogo certification.

All in all, green credentials are becoming more and more important for suppliers looking to secure and retain big customers. Want to avoid a break-up this Valentine’s Day? Be able to prove your business is on the right side of green

Until this year, there were different EcoLogo standards for photocopiers, fax machines and laser printers. The criteria for these standards, first instituted in 1998, are now being combined into one updated standard along with requirements for multifunctional devices and mailing machines. The standard will go into effect at the end of March.

So what does it take to make a green office machine? And how has EcoLogo’s criteria changed in ten years? You can read the full documentation on the standard here, but I thought I’d highlight a few items specifically that are new in 2008.

First, there are new chemical requirements. For example, the new EcoLogo standard mandates compliance with the RoHS directive with regard to restrictions on certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. It also includes criteria for the plastic casing parts on any office machine. To win EcoLogo certification, casings must not be manufactured with the following flame retardants:

• Poly-brominated biphenyls (PBBs)
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)
• Chloroparaffin flame retardents with chain length 10 to 17 carbon atoms, and chlorine content greater than 50% by weight

These substances are all environmentally toxic, and sales of products manufactured with these chemicals have been banned in some countries and states.

Second, there are new requirements on product recycling and re-use. Interestingly, this has a lot less to do with what’s in a product and much more to do with the behavior of manufacturing companies at the end of a product’s life. For example, there are EcoLogo guidelines in the office machine standard not only for waste diversion, but also for collection of office machines at the end of their use for proper processing. If a local collection program is not in place already, the manufacturer must offer one.

Green offices are a new frontier, and green office machines are a great way to start making a difference.

Around the holidays I tagged a post from Green Daily to read later. It’s about local governments offering financial incentives to individuals for environmental practices. I love the idea, but there’s a nagging part of me that questions the ethics of what amounts to a tax on people who can’t afford to go green. Everyone pays into the pool of government funding via regular taxes, but only the people who can afford to make environmentally-preferable choices reap any financial benefit.

It seems to me to make more sense to spend money incenting big businesses to go green. First, a large company has more resources than a single individual, and second, companies are likely to have a faster impact on the market for green products and services than individuals. Luckily, in a lot of ways this is already happening – not necessarily in the form of financial give-backs, but in the form of government procurement policies that favor green vendors over non-green ones.

For example, the United States Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) green procurement policy requires that green products or services must be considered “as the first choice in ALL procurements,” and green purchasing is required in the areas of office products, printing services, fleet vehicles, building construction/maintenance, traffic control, park and recreation, appliances and lighting. If you’re selling to the DOD, you have a major financial incentive to go green.

Hewlett-Packard has a long tally of photocopiers and laser jet printers on the EcoLogo-certified list, so I thought I’d share some information on the company’s environmentally-preferable products and the business results from HP’s efforts.

Public sector customers are beginning to move toward green public procurement, which means companies like HP have a competitive advantage. Companies that have products with certification, such as EcoLogo or Greenseal, are able to compete for those contracts where competitors that don’t meet environmental standards may not. As another example, according to an AMR report (which provided much of the information here on Hewlett-Packard), HP has begun measuring corporate request-for-proposal dollars from RFPs specifically asking for information on items like supply chain practices and materials used in relation to corporate responsibility goals. That number topped six billion dollars in 2005.

The biggest benefit to HP from its green initiatives may be the company’s ability to stay ahead of both government regulations and market pressures for sustainable practices. The AMR report goes so far as to suggest that HP’s approach to greening its supply chain could rival business-model disruptors like Dell, with its made-to-order computers, and Southwest, with its low-cost airline strategy. Whether or not that theory proves true, HP has created an infrastructure and product strategy – including meeting the strict environmental requirements of EcoLogo certification – that should generate greater and greater returns in the years ahead.