What is environmentally preferable purchasing?
Environmentally preferable purchasing is an effort to purchase products and services with a reduced negative impact on the environment and human health. In addition to improved environmental performance, many environmentally preferable products work as well or better than traditional products and can be more cost effective. Switching to safer cleaning products, for example, can reduce incidents of allergic reactions, asthma, burns, eye damage, major organ damage, and cancer connected with the hazardous chemicals used in many traditional cleaning products. Buying 100 percent recycled-content paper can reduce energy use by 44 percent, decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent, cut solid waste emissions in half, decrease water use by 50 percent, and practically eliminate wood use. Similarly, energy-efficient vehicles and renewable energy cut greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollutants while lessening our dependence on imported oil.
