ALBANY, N.Y. 
A New York State committee has drafted 18 new green
procurement guidelines, covering printers, traffic cones, air
conditioners and other products and services.
Earlier this year an executive order established a Green Procurement and Agency Sustainability Program, also setting up a committee that would determine how to green all aspects of state purchasing.
The committee has approved 18 tentative specifications,
which are up for public review. Final specifications for desktop and
laptop computers, engine block heaters and vehicles have already been
established.
The tentative specs cover dishwashers, clothes washers,
refrigerators, office printers, air conditioners, hydraulic and motor
oil, traffic message boards, traffic safety products, lithographic ink,
and services like printing, pest management recycling and turf
management.
The specs include energy efficiency, recycled content, toxic
chemical reduction and reuse. All printers would be required to carry
the Energy Star logo, provide double-sided printing by default and
print in black and white ink by default. Traffic message boards would
need to be powered primarily by solar panels, and traffic cones would
need to contain 50 percent recycled content, with as least 10 percent
postconsumer content.
About Executive Order 4
In April 2008, Governor David A. Paterson signed Executive Order No. 4,
Establishing a State Green Procurement and Agency Sustainability
Program, which directs state agencies, public authorities and public
benefit corporations to green their procurements and to implement
sustainability initiatives. The Order established an Interagency
Committee on Sustainability and Green Procurement that is co-chaired by
the Commissioner of General Services and the Commissioner of the
Department of Environmental Conservation. The Interagency Committee is
charged with identifying an annual list of categories and products for
which specifications can be developed and issued for greener
procurements. The Interagency Committee is further charged with
establishment of goals for reductions in the amount of solid waste and
with the development and performance of training relative to
sustainability efforts.
For further information regarding the Interagency Committee, please contact OGS at 518-474-3416 or DEC at 518-402-9469 or email GreenEO4@ogs.state.ny.us.
Source: http://www.greenbiz.com/, http://www.ogs.state.ny.us