Environmentally Preferable Purchasing

1. Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Reducing Waste, Hazards, and Cost At the Source

2. What is Environmentally Preferable Purchasing? • EPP is the process of selecting “products and services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared to other products and services that serve the same purpose.” • – Executive Order 13101

3. What are the Benefits of EPP? • Lesser impact on the environment - Can help meet H2E waste reduction goals • Potential cost savings • Healthier environment for patients and employees • Reduced liability • Positive publicity

4. Reference: C. Galligan, SHP, using data from Mercury Elimination and Reduction Challenge (MERC), "Mercury in the Health Care Sector: The Cost of Alternative Products", November, 1996, pp 14-24

5. Hospital Policy • A hospital policy to implement and support environmentally preferable purchasing is crucial to the success of the program • Hospital policy to look at life cycle costs can also help support an EPP program

6. Pollution, Waste and Environmental Disturbances Goods and Services Natural Resources Life Cycle Impacts

7. Purchasing Programs that use Life Cycle Analysis • Manufacturing • Purchase Price • Disposal Cost • Occupational Health Costs • Liability • Environmental Consequences • Total Cost

8. Examples of Hospital Purchasing Policies Kaiser Permanente Catholic Healthcare West

9. Kaiser Permanente RFP’s states that KP is: • Demonstrating a preference for products that cause the least amount of environmental harm • Partnering with suppliers who demonstrate a commitment to environmental quality • Collaborating with distributors, manufacturers, and suppliers in designing/refining products to minimize environmental impact

10. Kaiser asks vendors to submit information on: • Vendor’s Sustainable Practices • Pollution prevention attributes of products • How products reduce solid waste • Mercury content of products

11. Kaiser EPP Results: • Kaiser no longer procures: • Mercury thermometers • Mercury blood pressure equipment • Kaiser now recycles fluorescent lights • Kaiser switched most routine glove purchases from latex to nitrile gloves

12. Catholic Healthcare West • Purchasing Policy affirms CHW’s commitment to: • Conservation • Waste reduction • Reuse • Recycling • Waste elimination

13. CHW worked with its GPO- • Catholic Healthcare West entered into a written agreement on environmental purchasing with its GPO, Premier. • Premier agreed to support CHW’s environmental purchasing goals and to work with CHW procure environmentally preferable products.

14. Catholic Healthcare West EPP Results: • CHW buys sharps containers with recycled content

15. H2E EPP How-to Guide • http://www.h2e-online.org/tools/epp1.htm • The EPP How-to Guide can assist health care organizations implement an EPP program • The Guide is a web-based document with links to other resources

16. EPP How-to Guide covers how to: • Set up an EPP team • Decide on EPP goals • Set up an EPP program • Get started with a pilot project • Track progress • Share success • Continue and expand

17. Setting up the EPP team: • EPP team should be made up of hospital professionals working together to coordinated environmental purchasing with the environmental team and product review committees.

18. EPP team should have: • Representation from all relevant departments • Members with management responsibility • Members motivated to protect the environment • Support from top management

19. Actions to implement EPP • Determine measurable goals for EPP program • Develop EPP policy • Examine resources available • Choose small pilot project to implement • Track and review progress • Celebrate success

20. Examples of measurable goals • Reduce purchase of mercury-containing products by 80% by next year. • Increase purchase of recyclables or reusables by 30% by next fiscal year. • Reduce packaging waste or total solid waste by 20% in 12 months.

21. Resources for implementing EPP • How-to guide website provides links to: • Other EPP websites • Environmental Claims certifying organizations • RFP specifications used by other hospitals • Websites listing alternative products

22. Choosing pilot project • Using measurable goals, choose a project that is small, manageable, and has a specific time span • Develop an implementation timeline • Determine educational needs to implement project

23. Implementation • Work with product selection committee • Determine who is responsible for ensuring goals are met • Educate staff • Implement purchase

24. Continual improvement • Determine if goal was met • Request feedback • Review process • Track progress

25. Suggestions on How to Track Progress: • Require yearly or quarterly reports from vendors on EPP products purchased • Manual Tracking: use simple notes or codes on their ledgers • Automated tracking software where environmentally preferable products are marked as such • Bankcard tracking software

26. If goal was met: • Publicize success • Assess possibility of expansion • Determine next specific • Track and report on progress

27. If EPP Goal Was Not Met • DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED! • Request feedback from affected parties • Brainstorm on ways to move forward • Choose an interim goal or pilot • Move forward on new goal or project

28. Publicity and Celebrating Success • Gain program support through publicity on the value EPP efforts • Use data to create understandable environmental indicators • Label environmentally preferable products to educate staff and patients • Develop awards program for employees making unique contributions