"Environmentally Preferable Purchasing -
Shop for a Better Environment"

Tip #1 Environmentally Preferable Food Purchases

• Eat a locally produced diet.  Grow your own food or support local farmers, natural food stores and food co-ops.  You'll save money, eat quality foods, create jobs, increase farmlands, and strengthen your community.  You also reduce pollution generated by transportation and energy costs from shipping food.
• Buy certified organic food.  Organic farmers don't use toxic chemicals, or harmful pesticides or fertilizers.
• Avoid excessively packaged foods and buy in bulk when you can.  Even recyclable packaging requires energy and resources to create.  Also look for refillable containers. Seek out concentrated products which use far less packaging.

• Recycle and repair old clothes.  Pass along clothes to friends, charity shops and yard sales.  Hold clothes swaps with friends, neighbors, co-workers or church members.
• Inquire where fabrics and clothing come from, how they were produced and by whom.
• Buy natural fiber clothing, organic when possible.  Wool, silk, linen, hemp, and cotton are renewable resources, last longer, and are generally more comfortable.  Avoid clothing that requires dry cleaning or seek out nontoxic dry cleaners that use "wet-cleaning" processes instead of solvents.

• When installing or replacing toilets, select ones with water saving devices and low flow tanks.  Low flush toilets reduce your total indoor household water consumption by 20-30% Also, install a low-flow showerhead, that can save 1,000 gal/yr.
• When purchasing new appliances, buy energy star models that are more efficient.
• Buy compact fluorescent lamps to replace incandescent bulbs; they save energy and money.

• Purchase post-consumer recycled paper products.
• When going out to bid, request high post-consumer content.
• Use rechargeable toner cartridges for photocopiers and laser printers.

• Do you need it or do you want it?  Even environmentally good products require resources, use up energy and create wastes when they are first made and again when recycled.  Don't buy things unless you can honestly say you need them.  Too often, we buy things for all the wrong reasons; media pressure, quick gratification, peer pressure, ego boost, boredom, etc.  Eliminating the purchase of an item eliminates the need to make it, package it, transport it, display it and ultimately, dispose of it.