Challenge Focus Areas for Greening the Lifecycle of Office Equipment
Partners decide which of three “lifecycle” focus areas to work on, and can implement best practices in one, two, or all three areas.
- Purchasing. The focus is on putting policies and vendor contracts in place that give a preference to “green” office equipment, which is defined by EPEAT® (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool), the green rating system for electronics. The Challenge also establishes a goal that 95% of equipment purchases or leases are EPEAT registered. For a quick overview of EPEAT, download the EPEAT fact sheet.
- Use. The efficient use of office equipment is the goal. The Challenge targets two areas with great potential for wasteful consumption and efficiency gains—energy and paper consumption. In this focus area, Partners establish energy efficiency and paper reduction policies, educate staff, and implement power down and printer management strategies.
- End-of-life Management. What happens to equipment that is removed from desktops and offices? This focus area emphasizes the responsible management of equipment taken out of service, including equipment reuse through donations, if possible, and responsible recycling. An important outcome is the use of recyclers with third party certifications to electronics recycling standards.
See the Program Requirements Checklist for more specifics.