Portland, Ore., is routinely named one of the greenest cities in the world, thanks in part to a dedicated group of government purchasers. Popular Science magazine recently evaluated a variety of environmental data such as transportation mix, electricity use and air quality before identifying Portland as the greenest city in the United States. Grist magazine, a respected environmental news source, ranked Portland as the second greenest city in the world. It praises Portland's commitment to reducing carbon dioxide and other global warming pollutants, its aggressive green building program and impressive transportation infrastructure including light rail, buses and bike lanes.

Led by visionary political leaders, supported by innovative purchasing policies and with quick access to on-staff sustainable purchasing experts, government purchasers in Portland regularly incorporate environmental and social considerations into routine purchasing decisions. Their efforts help make Portland's sustainability vision a reality.

Greener office supplies delivered on tricycles

One recent example of Portland's efforts to "green" every city purchase is the city's January 2011 office supply contract with Office Depot. It requires Office Depot to deliver greener products for government offices in the downtown Portland area using electric-assist cargo tricycles at no additional cost to the city.

The trikes are operated by B-Line, a local bicycle delivery company. Each B-Line trike is capable of hauling up to 700 pounds of product on each delivery. While the city has long purchased greener office supply products, such as recycled-content paper products and remanufactured toner cartridges, the focus on pollution-free delivery is new.

In a local news story on the project, Portland's Chief Procurement Officer Christine Moody, explained, "I knew Office Depot wasn't going to do something that meant a loss for them, and I wasn't going to do something that meant higher prices for us. All I did was suggest [Office Depot] talk to [B-Line] about what might be possible, because sending a truck downtown can be expensive."

Portland was already recognized as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the United States. By exploring the opportunity to deliver office supplies on electric-assist trikes, Portland's purchasers were able to further reduce downtown traffic while lowering air and global warming pollution.

Stacey Foreman, Portland's sustainable procurement coordinator, emphasizes that electric-assist trikes were not the only reason the contract was awarded to Office Depot. "We selected [them] based on a combination of factors: price, rebates, ease of use, customer service, green usage reports and overall contribution to our sustainability goals. In addition to the trike delivery, Office Depot continues to support the city's sustainable procurement and green building goals by providing a variety of environmentally preferable products."

"This is just another example of Portland purchasers constantly pushing the ‘green envelope,’" said Jeff Baer, Portland's director of Internal Business Services. "Our staff has been buying greener products for more than a decade, but we're always asking, ‘What else can we do? Are there additional opportunities to maintain lower costs while improving environmental performance?’ There is always more greening to do."

Other green purchasing examples

Many governments are routinely buying greener electronic products, energy-efficient lighting, LEED-registered green buildings, certified green cleaning products and greener copy papers and other office supplies. Portland does all of this and more.

While bicycle deliveries of office supplies are unusual, it is just one of Portland's many innovative sustainable procurement initiatives. Other examples include:

• Sweatshop-free apparel — Portland City Council passed a sweatshop-free procurement policy that requires all apparel suppliers to comply with labor and health and safety standards to ensure workers are not subjected to unacceptably difficult or dangerous working conditions. As a result, city procurement officials included sweatshop-free apparel requirements in a December 2010 solicitation for fire department dress uniforms. It is a way for the fire department to fight sweatshop labor practices while fighting fires.
• Elevator modernization — A June 2010 solicitation to modernize city elevators includes requirements for elevators to be maintained with biobased (plant-based) hydraulic fluids, lubricants and greases; cleaned with EcoLogo or Green Seal certified cleaning products; illuminated by energy-efficient lighting; and carpeted with materials meeting the NSF/ANSI 140-2007e greener carpet standard. It also avoids the use of wood products from endangered sources and requires all paints and coatings used as part of the effort to meet California's strict low-VOC requirements.
• Laundry and uniform services — A December 2006 contract for laundry services prohibits the use of a perchlorethylene (aka "perc" or tetrachloroethylene), a common dry cleaning chemical; requires proof the supplier is using the least toxic laundry chemicals; and mandates that all packaging used to deliver laundered garments be readily recyclable in typical office recycling programs.
• Office chairs — The April 2010 award for office chairs was based in part on vendor responses to questions about the chair's recycled content, use of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood, use of rapidly renewable materials, impacts on indoor air quality as measured by specified test protocols, design for durability and recyclability and the toxicities of the flame retardants used in the products. In addition, suppliers were rewarded during the evaluation phase for products that are certified by GREENGUARD, EcoLogo, or MBDC Cradle-to-Cradle or certified by an independent third-party as meeting the BIFMA e3-2008 standard.