Environmentally Preferable Purchasing

The purchase of environmentally preferable products provides a market reward and recognition to companies whose dedication and comitment to sustainability has yielded concrete environmental and energy efficiency achievements. The member companies of the ELC champion programs which promote environmentally preferable purchasing that rely on established and verifiable metrics. These programs not only stimulate and reward the design and manufacture of green products, but green the entire product lifecycle from design to reuse and recycling.

The United States government recognizes the opportunity to help green the supply chain, and requires 95% of federal computer purchases to be compliant with EPEAT, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. This tool was developed by the US EPA, electronics manufacturers, environmental advocy groups and other stakeholder to identify 51 criteria of environmental importance. Manufacturers can then register their products based on the number of criteria a product meets, and receive either a Gold, Silver or Bronze designation under EPEAT. Members of ITI's Environmental Leadership Council account for over 80% of all EPEAT registered products and were the first to register EPEAT Gold products.