Green procurement

The two key decisions that affect the procurement of building products and the building's impact upon the environment are what to buy (product type) and who to buy it from.

Publications such as the Green Guide to Specification (2002) provide assistance to designers deciding what to select. It provides a summary of the environmental impacts of a product from cradle to grave in an easy to understand rating system.

Ecopoint chart for reclaimed
vs new steel sections

	waste disposal

	water extraction

	minerals extraction

	fossil fuel depletion

	eutrophication to water

	ecotoxicity to water

	human toxicity to water

	photochemical ozone

	creation potential

	human toxicity to air

	ozone depletion

	acid deposition

	climate change

A UK Ecopoint score is a measure of the overall environmental impact of a particular product or process.

BRE life cycle analyses show that reclaimed steel sections have 96 percent lower environmental impacts than new steel.

Reclaimed Building Materials in the
Development of the Thames
Gateway (2006)

Image courtesy of JCB Sales Ltd

Certification of environmental management systems (EMS) for the process and/or extraction stages of the product to ISO14001 or EMAS can be used as an indicator of good performance by a supplier and help decide who to buy from. For timber products, the supplier should be able to demonstrate that the material is from a legal and sustainable source through certification schemes such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and documentation such as chain of custody sheets.