When procuring office supplies, opportunuities exist to find cost savings and products that contain one or more environmental attributes. Look for ways to reuse or reduce use of supplies, purchase with recycled content and avoid chemicals of concern - such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and antimicrobials.
Criteria
Mulitple criteria: Office Supplies, RFP/RFI Questions (recycled content, free of antimicrobials and PVC, low VOCs)
When specifying levels of recycled content, the minimum postconsumer recycled content cited should not be lower than EPA's Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines: Paper, Nonpaper products
Sample Specifications
Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) - Office Supplies: Model EPP Spec and Purchasing Guidelines
Alameda County, CA - Office Supplies, Bid Excerpt
King County, WA - Remanufactured toner cartridges
Case Study:
Kaiser Permanente, Office Supplies - found 49% cost savings by switching to environmentally preferable office supplies
