Why Buy Green?

Buying green has a positive impact on health, the environment, and our local economy. Purchasing is a way of voting with your dollar. As consumers, it is important that we are aware of the growing range of environmentally friendly items available to us. By choosing to buy green products, we tell producers and suppliers that we want products that are not harmful to our environment.

Buying green signals that we want products that:

• Contain recycled content: thereby conserving our natural resources
• Are produced locally: cutting down on energy required for transport and supporting local industry
• Emit fewer toxins both during production and with use: improving human health 
• Use less packaging: reducing our waste stream

Products are deemed "green" because they have less of a negative impact on our living environment than other similar products. Buying green also improves our health and our local economy, and shows that we care about our community.

Environmentally Preferable Products (EPP)

All products, whatever they may be, will have consumed energy and raw materials during their manufacture. They also impact on the environment in their use and ultimately in their disposal. EPPs are products which reduce this impact and help to leave our planet cleaner and safer.

Buying EPP helps to close the recycling loop by adding a fourth step, REBUY, to the REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE process. Diverting recyclable materials from landfills for reprocessing into new products conserves natural resources by decreasing our demand for raw materials. It also helps shrink our solid waste stream, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from landfills that contribute to global climate change. By doing this we can make an important contribution to sustainable development.