About

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. The policy was expanded in 1995 to include other environmentally preferable products.

The King County Environmental Purchasing Program provides county personnel with information and technical assistance to help them identify, evaluate, and purchase economical and effective environmentally preferable products and services. Environmentally preferable procurement considers multiple product attributes, such as toxicity, durability, emissions, recycled content and conservation of resources, in addition to price, performance and availability.

The program reports annually on the status of policy implementation and the environmental purchasing accomplishments of agencies. In the past year, King County agencies purchased 54 million dollars worth of these products, saving $837,000 compared to the cost of conventional products. Recycled paper is used for all major government functions, including bus schedules, tax statements, court forms, pet license notifications, business cards, and reports. Other purchases include: remanufactured toner cartridges; re-refined antifreeze and motor-oil; ultra-low sulfur diesel; biodiesel; hybrid vehicles; bio-based oils; 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 and perform well.

 
"Responsible Purchasers of the Year"
From left to right: Alisa Gravitz (Green America), Dave Wetzel
(Office Depot), Jeffrey Baer (City of Portland), Alicia Culver
(Green Purchasing Institute), Karen Hamilton (King County),
Eric Nelson (King County), and Nancy Locke (City of Seattle)

Program success depends on identifying the critical decision-makers in the county and supporting them with information that can help them make good decisions. The program provides educational seminars on specific opportunities, maintains a website, produces an annual progress report and issues email "Environmental Purchasing Bulletin" to make information available to agencies, suburban cities, and the community at-large. By using these devices and others, we are gradually bringing about greater identification with the environmental objectives of policy, as employees learn that every purchase has an impact and that every employee has opportunities to improve the environmental impacts of their purchases.

The program continues to provide a central resource for internal agencies and for jurisdictions and other organizations across the nation. Program staff also continues its integral role in the national membership-based non-profit organization called the “Responsible Purchasing Network,” serving on the steering committee. King County lends support to the network by sharing its experiences with others who are working to develop policies and programs to support the purchase of environmentally preferable products.

If you have questions or comments, contact the Environmental Purchasing Program at (206)263-9294 or e-mail epp@kingcounty.gov.