1. EPA recommends specifications, standards, and ecolabels for green products in over 20 categories. Using these recommendations can save the government and businesses time and money while increasing sales of greener products. 2. Product registries and calculators help measure the impacts of the recommendations by tracking product availability, and quantifying cost savings and environmental benefits from purchasing certified products. 3. Improving data sharing between product registries could further increase the benefits by making it easier to find certified products and integrate registry data into procurement tools.

1. 1
EPA’s Recommendations
of Specifications, Standards,
and Ecolabels
SPLC Summit 2018
Jenna Larkin
EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Program
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT)

2. The Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Program
Celebrating 25 years of greening the Federal government!
Markets need sound, reliable
information to perform
efficiently.
Significant demand for
environmentally preferable products
and services, but many definitions of
what is “green.”
U.S. businesses want agreed
definitions of what constitutes
environmental preferability for
their product/service sector
The federal government has
been a key player.
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 48 CFR Part 23.703
• Agencies must "(M)aximize the utilization of environmentally
preferable products and services (based on EPA-issued guidance)." 2
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

3. EPA’s Recommended Standards & Ecolabels
Includes ~40 private sector standards/ecolabels in 22 product categories
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www.epa.gov/greenerproducts
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

4. Product Categories in EPA Recommendations
*Pilot Category
Cafeteria
• Take-out Service: Containers, Cutlery, Dishware
• Commercial Dishwasher Detergent
Construction
• Adhesives
• Carpet*
• Ceiling Tiles-Acoustical
• Fiberboard, Gypsum Panels, and Wallboard
• Flooring*
• Insulation
• Interior Latex Paint*
Office/Furniture
• Copy Paper
• Furniture*
Custodial
• Cleaners: Carpet, Glass, Multipurpose
• Floor Care
• Hand Soap
• Toilet Tissue
• Towels – paper
• Wastebasket Liners (24” x 33” or smaller)
Electronics
• Computers
• Imaging Equipment
• Mobile Phones
• TVs
Grounds/Landscaping
• Deicer 4
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

5. Guidelines for Assessing Environmental
Performance Standards & Ecolabels
5
Standards development processSection I
Effectiveness in addressing human and environmental healthSection II
Conformity assessment proceduresSection III
Ecolabel program managementSection IV
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

6. 6
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
How can we start to measure the impacts of
the Recommendations of Specifications,
Standards, and Ecolabels?

7. 7
Measuring the Impacts of the Recommendations
COST SAVINGS for items such as:
• Saving federal purchasers time and
resources by eliminating the need to
conduct independent research of
appropriate standards and ecolabels
• Potential for saving manufacturers’ time
and resources if they reduce the number
of certifications they pursue and maintain
Exploratory
analysis indicates
Federal savings
could be between
$3 million to $16
million annually
from time saved
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

8. 8
Measuring the Impacts of the Recommendations
POTENTIAL INCREASED REVENUES for:
Driven by federal
purchasers buying
more certified
products to EPA
Recommended
standards &
ecolabels
• Manufacturers of products meeting
recommended standards and ecolabels.
• SDOs/ecolabels that are included in the
recommendations.
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

9. 9
Measuring the Impacts of the Recommendations
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS from:
• Impact reductions throughout the lifecycle of
certified products.
• Cost and environmental savings from
procuring certified products.
• For example, less energy used by EPEAT
Registered computers and displays.
e.g. Estimated
use-phase energy
savings for all
federal EPEAT
purchases from
2008-2016: $600
million
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

10. 10
Useful tools to help measure success
• Robust Product Registries
• Can support pre- market research on product availability
• Can help support data input for calculating results
• Calculators
• Helps to quantify environmental and public health benefits
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

11. Wide Variation Among Product Registries
• Some just pdfs on website, others are online databasesStructure
• Some have advanced search functions or filters
• Some offer a unified database listing all certified products by the
different certifying bodies, while others require user to go to each of
the certifiers’ websites to find products
Ease of Use
• Some have robust monitoring systems for ensuring
accuracy, regularly updating product listings, others do not
Maintenance
Frequency
• Some are machine readable, offer live data feeds, others
aren’t/don’t
Ability to Integrate
into Retailer Systems
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Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

12. Example of Integration Efforts by GSA’s SF Tool
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• GSA’s Green Procurement Compilation on the
Sustainable Facilities tool (SF Tool).
• Helps purchasers search for brands and products that
comply with federal sustainability requirements.
• To date, they’ve successfully integrated product registry
data from 14 different EPA Recommended standards or
ecolabels
• Others coming soon, but will largely depend on the
quality of the standards’ or ecolabels’ product
registry
• Retailers interested in using the same integration
technique
www.sftool.ecomedes.com
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

13. Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics 13
Example: EPEAT Product Registry
Source: https://ww2.epeat.net/searchoptions.aspx

14. 14
Example: EPEAT Product Registry
Source: https://ww2.epeat.net/searchoptions.aspx
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

15. Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
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Example: EPEAT Product Registry
Source: https://ww2.epeat.net/searchoptions.aspx

16. How to Improve
Product Registries?
• Use Common:
• Data Fields
• Product categories familiar to buyers
• Product identifiers (SKU numbers)
• Make Easy to Integrate
• Machine readable
• API enabled
• Make Transparent
• Time stamp last time registry was updated
• Provide open source information
• Maintain/Update Regularly
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Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

17. Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator (EEBC)
• Development funded by EPA
• Launched in 2009 in Excel format, many updates since launch
• Currently calculators for:
• Computers (Version 4)
• Imaging Equipment (Version 1)
• Televisions (Version 1)
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Purpose: To assist organizations in estimating the cost and environmental benefits of greening
their purchase, use and disposal of electronics.
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

18. 18
What Data Does the EEBC Provide?
The cost and environmental benefits of:
• Purchasing Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-
registered products
• Enabling power management features on computers and monitors
above default percentages
• Extending the life of equipment beyond baseline values
• Reusing computers, monitors, imaging equipment, televisions and cell
phones
• Recycling computers, monitors, imaging equipment, televisions, cell
phones and loads of mixed electronic products
• Cost savings include the full range of costs for products, beyond the
initial purchase price – operational and disposal costs, etc.
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

19. 19
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
• Most recently, EPA is exploring posting the base code for
these calculators to allow others to build off of this work
• The Green Electronics Council (GEC) announced it will be
building new & updated calculators based on EPA’s EEBC.
• In 2018: Plan to develop new calculators for mobile
phones and servers, and update the computer &
display calculator.
Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator
(EEBC)

20. 20
Conclusions
• Having a pre-vetted list of standards or ecolabels to be used in
procurement can result in an array of economic benefits to purchasers,
manufactures, vendors, etc.
• Robust product registries make it quick and easy for purchasers to
identify the environmentally preferable products that meet their
needs.
• Can also help keep track of environmental or human health data associated
with each product you buy
• Having product category specific calculators are extremely useful for
estimating costs and environmental benefits from buying
environmentally preferable products.
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

21. Resources
• Email: Larkin.jenna@epa.gov
• EPA’s Recommendations of Specifications,
Standards, and Ecolabels
• GSA’s Sustainable Facilities Tool
• EEBC – under the “Benefits Calculator” tab
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Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics