Initiatives
Cleaning Chemicals
285 gallons of chemicals considered to be environmentally preferred (certified by Green Seal) were purchased by the state during in 2008 and used in a total of 42 state buildings in Augusta. The amount of cleaners calculated from the purchase order during the year included:
13 cases of multi surface cleaner
17 cases of All Purpose cleaner
Each case has five containers of 64 oz. bottles which comes to 9600 ounces (75 gallons) of cleaners.
Also
213 cases of Hand Cleaner
Each case has three containers of 42 oz. bottles which comes to 26,838 ounces (210 gallons) of hand cleaner.
Using EPA’s Green Cleaning Pollution Prevention Calculator http://www.ofee.gov/janitor/index.asp with an estimate of 1,672,883 square feet for the 42 buildings that the Green Seal cleaning chemicals are used, we have been able to determine that total product was reduced by 4697 pounds and hazardous material content reduced by 928 pounds by switching to using environmentally preferable cleaning chemicals.
Electronics/ computers
Maine’s OIT group has developed 1 RFQ since adopting the policy that desk tops, lap tops and monitors need to be at least EPEAT silver rated. Maine signed onto and participate in the State’s Electronic Challenge from North East Recycling Council to track purchases and to measure the benefit to the environment for the policy and new purchases (Computers/ electronics, RFP pending on all future purchases began in FY 2008).
Purchases during this grant period included:
Desktop computers registered with EPEAT:
-Gold 563, EPEAT Silver 29, Bronze 0, Unregistered units** 1376
- Laptop computers registered with EPEAT:
- Gold 27, Silver 2044, Bronze 0, Unregistered 158
- LCD monitors registered with EPEAT:
-Gold 1, Silver 82, Bronze 1, Unregistered 2197
Resulting in total EPEAT purchased equipment silver or above 2747/ 6478= 42%
**= for now on all electronics will be EPEAT certified minimum of silver, the 1372 units were purchased before the EPP strategy was put in place.
Calculations by the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. using the U.S. EPA-funded Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator (version 1.1, dated 4-18-07), http://eerc.ra.utk.edu/ccpct/eebc/eebc.html have shown the environmental results from switching to EPEAT rated products to be:
Maine Purchasing Summary (October 1, 2007 – September 30, 2008)
- EPEATTM Gold: 563 CPUs, 1 LCD monitors, 27 Notebooks
- EPEATTM Silver: 29 CPUs, 82 LCD monitors, 2044 Notebooks
- EPEATTM Bronze: 1 LCD monitor
Reduction summary quantified based on purchasing summary:
Energy use reduced by 1.64 million kWh which is equal to the electricity to power 144 households annually.
- Greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 126.1 MTCE which is equal to removing 100 passenger cars from the road per year.
- Municipal solid wastes reduced by 8.1 metric tons which is equal to waste generated by 4.2 households annually.
- Hazardous waste reduced by 3.0 metric tons.
- Toxic materials reduced, including persistent bio-accumulative toxins; lead & mercury by 82.4 kg (181.7 pounds).
- Mercury reduced by .01 kg (.02 pounds) which is equal to 17.4 mercury fever thermometers.
Electronics/ lighting
Low mercury fluorescent lamps- RFP yielded 5 bids from vendors, one of which was awarded in late December 2007. Building managers are responsible for maintaining the average weighted load of mercury within lighting products as established by LEED certification and as required by Maine’s Executive Order for buildings to conform with LEED EB (existing building) standard. Bids were required to state the amount of mercury in each product so building managers could have a reference for determining strategies for addressing lighting needs in their respective buildings.
Energy
The Executive Order establishing the Clean Government Initiative established a goal for the state to purchase 40% of the electricity it consumes from renewable resources. When the State restructured its electric industry it set a requirement that 30% of the electricity purchased by Maine consumers would be derived from efficient or renewable resources, so 30% of the state government’s power mix was met from these eligible resources. When it went out to bid for power in 2003 State government required that the 30% come from renewable resources only. Since July, 2006 the state has purchased renewable energy credits to cover the remaining 70%, making Maine the first state in the nation to purchase 100% of its electricity from renewable resources. The additional 70% was purchased from 80,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy credits from Maine hydro. This offset approximately 64 million pounds of carbon dioxide, 113,000 pounds of nitrogen oxide and 200,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide. This is also the equivalent of taking 2700 cars off the road.
Paper
Maine’s statutory requirement mandates 50% of paper purchased by the State be required to contain 30% post consumer recycled content paper. In FY 2008, approximately 80% of the paper and paper products purchased by the State of Maine contained at least 30% post consumer content. Out of the 294,580 reams of paper distributed by the Bureau of General Services central warehouse, 239,180 contained the required recycled content specification. The reductions of environmental impact associated with purchasing 30% post consumer content recycled paper as calculated through Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentid=4852 is a reduction of the following:
- 622 tons of wood
- 2997 million BTU’s.
- 378,159 lbs CO2 equivalent Green house Gases
- 1,569,654 gallons of water
- 201,556 pounds of solid waste
Uniforms
Uniforms that do not require dry cleaning must be purchased or the uniform allowance for those employees issued dry clean only uniforms must provide outreach on available cleaning services in the state that use the alternative "wet" clean method. Currently no uniforms purchased through central purchasing are labeled as dry clean only. Maine is also the first government procurement program in the nation to require vendors to conform to an established code of conduct requiring vendors to provide products under healthy, safe, and fair working conditions:
Chapter 130 - Implementing the State Purchasing Code of Conduct Requiring That Vendors Furnishing Apparel, Footwear, Or Textiles to the State Provide Healthy, Safe, and Fair Working Conditions http://maine.gov/purchases/policies/chapter130.html
Vehicles
Over the past five years, the State of Maine, through Central Fleet Management, has increased the number of hybrid vehicles from only one hybrid vehicle to over 90.
Wheel Weights
The State has avoided lead wheel weight purchases of approximately 325 pounds/year. In addition this EPP purchasing requirement resulted in an added benefit of significant performance improvement of the wheels. The following activities took place under the wheel weight initiative:
- 2007 Fall-State DOT heavy duty vehicle bid specifications were amended to require vehicle delivery with internal liquid tire balancing media installed in each wheel.
- 2007 September - State DOT information on internal liquid tire balancing media for heavy duty vehicles was distributed to the Department of Education statewide school bus list serve of public school fleet contacts. At least two school systems are piloting the alternative wheel weights. A result of this pilot included one school system reporting in the summer of 2008 that they are very pleased with the product and are transitioning their entire fleet.
- 2007 June-RFQ for School Buses published by the State Division of Purchases is amended to prohibit lead wheel weights and requires the internal wheel balance media or an approved substitute. School buses transporting children in the unorganized territories to State owned and managed schools are impacted as well as many municipal school buses.
- 2008 January- State Central Fleet Management (CFM) notifies approximately 350 independent auto facilities servicing state vehicles requesting use of steel wheel weights on state vehicles, providing a list of suppliers and requesting notification back to CFM when they have transitioned.
- 2008- State Request for Quotes for CFM light duty vehicles amended to require delivery with a covered steel weight.
