The United States’ push toward sustainable electronics purchasing has produced a remarkable long-term result. In July 2011, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) helped launch the National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship, a federal effort designed to make the entire electronics life cycle more responsible—from product design and purchasing to reuse, recycling and disposal. Fifteen years later, the broader impact of environmentally preferable electronics purchasing is reflected in a striking figure: procurement professionals have reported purchases of 2.4 billion EPEAT-registered products, generating an estimated $24.6 billion in cost savings and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 286 million metric tons.
The 2011 strategy emerged at a time when computers, monitors, printers, mobile devices and other electronics were becoming increasingly important to government operations and everyday life. Federal officials recognized that the government’s enormous purchasing power could influence how technology was designed and manufactured. The national strategy called for more efficient and sustainable electronics, responsible federal purchasing and management, stronger reuse and recycling practices, and expanded domestic electronics recycling opportunities. GSA also planned to remove products that failed to meet robust energy-efficiency or environmental-performance standards from federal IT purchasing contracts. This approach demonstrated how government procurement can become an environmental policy tool, using purchasing decisions to encourage manufacturers to improve products and supply chains.
