Materials selection plays a significant role in sustainable building operations because of the environmental and health consequences associated with a material’s life cycle, including extraction, processing, transportation, use, and disposal (See Figure 2). These activities can pollute water, land, and air, destroy native habitats, and deplete natural resources.

The environmental burden of the harvesting, manufacturing, consuming, and disposing of materials varies by material type. To reduce environmental impacts related to operations, maintenance, upgrades, and renovations of buildings, consider alternative materials, and develop an EPP.

BMS policies reduce material impacts by ensuring that materials and supplies have sustainable attributes. An effective BMS policy prioritizes materials that are locally sourced, reusable, compostable, recycled, recyclable, salvageable or refurbishable, rapidly renewable, non-toxic, have minimal packaging, have a manufacturer take-back program, or have low embodied energy (total amount of energy consumed from extraction through final use).

Procurement personnel should aim to identify BMS alternatives for facility’s most commonly purchased items, such as the following examples:

• General office operations: recycled paper (at least 30% post-consumer content per EO 13514) and refillable printer
• Hazardous or electronic products: non-incandescent, low-mercury content, or light-emitting diode (LED) lamps; rechargeable batteries; Energy Star®-rated electronic products; and electronics from manufacturers with take-back programs.
• Food services: reusable mugs and service ware, tap water to replace bottled water, compostable paper plates, and bulk coffee
• Cleaning and maintenance: phosphate-free dish detergents, recycled paper towels, non-toxic pest management (see Site: Integrated Pest Management), and green cleaning supplies (see Indoor Environment: Green Cleaning).

Environmentally-friendly products are readily available worldwide, particularly from larger mass market retailers. The single largest-volume office supply used in most offices is paper; look for high post-consumer recycled content but not less than 30%. Food and drink present an opportunity to have a positive environmental impact through reducing disposable packaging and containers for products that abound in lunchrooms, cafeterias, meeting rooms, offices, and workstations. Posts should ensure that recycling facilities exist before purchasing aluminum cans and plastic bottles that can otherwise end up in a landfill.

Table 2: EPA’s Guiding Principles for EPP

Data Source: U.S Environmental Protection Agency

Table 3: Ecological Priority Impacts Matrix

Data Sources: Adapted from U.S Environmental Protection Agency