GREEN PURCHASING GLOSSARY

Bio-Based Products – a commercial or industrial product (other than food or feed) that utilizes biological products or renewable domestic agriculture (plant, animal, marine) or forestry materials

Environmentally Preferable Products (EPP) - products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. EPP’s take into consideration performance, durability, repairableness, natural resource use and waste reduction, recyclability and recycled content, biodegradability, toxicity, labels and instructions for use.

Energy Efficient Products - refers to products that meet or exceed the Department of Energy (DOE)/Federal Energy Management Program’s product energy efficiency recommendations which identify the top 25 percent of energy efficiency for all similar products or that meet the
energy efficiency criteria of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)/DOE Energy Star program.

Energy Star - a voluntary partnership among the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, product manufacturers, local utilities, and retailers. Partners help promote efficient products by labeling with the Energy Star® logo and educating consumers about the benefits of energy efficiency.

Green Purchasing – buying goods and services that are Environmentally Preferable Products (EPP’s).

Products with Recycled Content - Recycled content products contain "recovered materials" or "postconsumer materials" or both. "Recovered materials" means materials that have been removed or diverted from solid waste – in other words, trash – including solid waste created by manufacturers. "Postconsumer materials" are materials that we discard at home and at work that are separated or diverted for recycling instead of going to a landfill.

Recycled – a nonspecific term that can include the use of both pre-and post-consumer material. A paper can technically be labeled recycled if the manufacturer used spare paper from bad runs at the mill, or pre-consumer waste. Reuse of bad paper runs has been traditional in the papermaking process since the beginning of papermaking.

PCW – Post Consumer Waste. PCW is the pulp made from recycled paper that has been used already at least once by the consumer.

Virgin Paper – Paper made from virgin tree pulp. These papers have no recycled content.