Green Cleaning Efforts - Maine
| Organization(s) |
Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection
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| Project Description |
In February of 2006, Governor Baldacci signed an Executive Order for Safer Chemicals in Consumer Products and Services. A Governor's Task Force for Safer Chemicals in Consumer Products and Services and an environmentally-preferable procurement (EPP) workgroup were established to determine how to best conform with this Executive Order. The workgroup involves Maine Department of Environmental Protection (ME DEP) Pollution Prevention (P2) Program officials and others. The EPP workgroup evaluated various third party certification programs and decided that Green Seal had recognizable and accountable criteria for Maine to use to conform to the requirements of the Executive Order.
ME DEP's Pollution Prevention Program has been providing specific technical assistance to the Department of Administration and Financial Services (DAFS), Division of Purchases on contract and request-for-bid language to cover EPP requirements.
As of February 2007, the State of Maine has begun to require vendors of cleaning chemicals to provide products that conform to the criteria under Green Seal's Certification. (See side bar interview with Green Seal.) The EPP workgroup has also developed a standard that goes out with request for bids on cleaning chemicals that are not within the categories that Green Seal certifies.
To date, one request for bids has gone out that included these environmentally-preferable requirements for cleaning chemicals. More cleaning chemical contracts are going to need to be filled in the coming months.
ME DEP's Pollution Prevention Program has determined that besides Division of Purchases, technical assistance to Maine's Central Warehouse with purchasing and with individual agencies is necessary to ensure conformance with Maine's EPP commitment. |
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| Project Contact |
| Name |
Peter Cooke |
| Phone |
207-791-8101 |
| E-mail |
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| Project Keywords |
| Areas of P2 Expertise |
Environmentally Preferable Purchasing |
| Activity Keywords |
Funding and grants, Policy/Legislative |
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| Source |
| Newsletter |
Northeast Assistance & Pollution Prevention News - Vol. 17 No. 1, Spring 2007 [PDF] |
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