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Georgia Tech Green Purchasing

Georgia Tech Green Purchasing. Nancy Jones Cindy Jackson. What is “Green Purchasing”?. Stated simply Green Purchasing means buying products made from recycled materials or remanufactured products. Paper products Toner cartridges Binders/filing General supplies.

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Georgia Tech Green Purchasing

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  1. Georgia Tech Green Purchasing Nancy Jones Cindy Jackson

  2. What is “Green Purchasing”? • Stated simply Green Purchasing means buying products made from recycled materials or remanufactured products. • Paper products • Toner cartridges • Binders/filing • General supplies

  3. Why is Green Purchasing important? Official Code of Georgia Requirements OCGA 50-5-60.2, Use of Recycled Paper Products, requires state agencies, departments, and authorities to purchase recycled content paper for the printing and writing paper needs. 95% of the dollars spent on printing and writing paper must go towards recycled content paper. Exceptions are allowed only if the documented bid price of the recycled content is more than8% higher than the documented bid price of virgin paper, or if certain recycled paper does not meet the quality level established by DOAS.

  4. Mandate from Legislature “It is declared to be the policy of the state of Georgia, in furtherance of its responsibility to protect and enhance the quality of its environment, to institute and maintain a comprehensive program for the procurement of products that contain recovered materials. The General Assembly finds that it is in the public interest for the state to create incentives that increase the demand for products manufactured with recovered materials.” Georgia Legislature 1993, p. 531

  5. Why else is Green Purchasing important? • It helps close the materials loop started by recycling. • It increases the demand for recycled products and could help to bring down their cost. • It helps influence industry to conserve energy and resources. • It is an easy and effective way to protect the environment. • It supports Georgia Tech’s sustainability initiatives

  6. Why was the “Green Purchasing Guide” (GPG) developed? • We identified an environmental program that would have a great impact with only a little effort on participants part. • Nothing to identify green products was available to Georgia Tech purchasers. • Discussions with Purchasing and Office Depot revealed that at the time Georgia Tech was purchasing only 4% recycled content office supplies - far below state average.

  7. How was the “Green Purchasing Guide” developed? • Developed questionnaire on purchasing habits. • Distributed questionnaire to a number of employees on campus. • Participants were also asked to list the four most commonly ordered items for their department. • Results indicated that over all copier paper is the most commonly ordered office supply.

  8. Using the participant input, we searched Office Depot catalog for items any office would use. • “Green” versions of these items were identified. • List included everything from paper to post-it-notes to scissors to paperclips. Did you know that Office Depot currently carries more than 1,700 recycled and environmentally preferable products?

  9. Is the “Green Purchasing Guide” a complete list of items available? • No, the list was designed as a quick reference. • In addition to the GPG, you can find recycled content products in other ways. • Use the new Green Book catalog from Office Depot- most comprehensive list of available items. • Search Office Depot website using keyword “recycled”. • List of recycled content products in back of the Office Depot catalog.

  10. Green Purchasing is new to me. What should I look for? • First, look for the recycling symbol next to an item. • Then look for the following terms: • Post-consumer waste: materials discarded by an end user, business or residence • Pre-consumer waste: manufacturing excess and waste. • Remanufactured: indicates the product has already been used before but has been refurbished for use. • Recycled: product is made from a reused material. • Recyclable: the ability of a material to be reused in manufacturing.

  11. Choose an item with the highest content in the order above. • Post-consumer content is preferred over pre-consumer content (the higher the percentage the better). • The higher the post-consumer content, the greater the reduction in solid waste and natural resource use. • Use remanufactured products (laser cartridges) whenever possible.

  12. Toner Cartridge Recycling • Environmental policies prohibit discarding used toner cartridges in landfills (throwing into the trash). • Agreement between Georgia Tech and Office Depot allows for their drivers to pick up any used toner cartridges whenever they make an office supply delivery. • Office Depot will recycle used cartridges at no cost to Georgia Tech.

  13. Transparency Film Recycling • Every year millions of pounds of polyester from transparency film is dumped into landfills. 3M has launched a program to transform transparency film into reusable polyester. • Recycling transparency film is good for the environment and it helps reduce the amount of waste generated at Tech thereby reducing disposal costs. • To recycle, ship used transparencies to 3M’s recycling partner (polyester recovery company) at the following address: 3M Recycle Program c/o Gemark 99 Stevens Lane Exeter, PA 18643

  14. Pilot Program • Facilities announces mandatory use of GPG and Green Book. • Presentation on green purchasing to 9 buyers. • January 2004 began tracking Office Depot orders delivered to 915 Atlantic Drive. • Expected results - to find a marked increase in amount of recycled content products purchased compared to first 6 months of 2003.

  15. Can’t find what you’re looking for? • Contact the Office Depot Team assigned to Georgia Tech. • Jason Maltz, Account Manager 770-806-4060 x4021 jmaltz@officedepot.com • Cheryl Crumpton, Service Consultant 770-806-4060 x ccrumpton@officedepot.com

  16. In Summary -what do we hope to achieve? • For everyone to pay greater attention to what office supplies are ordered. • For everyone to purchase “green” items where available. • Increase the percentage of recycled content and remanufactured products ordered by Georgia Tech. • Make Georgia Tech THE leader in Green Purchasing.

  17. For More Information, Please Contact: • Nancy Jones, Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development 404.385.0384 nancy.jones@sustainable.gatech.edu • Cindy Jackson, Office of Solid Waste and Recycling 404.894.2004 cindy.jackson@facilities.gatech.edu

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