Making good choices when purchasing food service ware products can be quite complicated. That’s because not all food ware marketed as “compostable” gets composted at the large-scale commercial composting facilities that process our county’s food scraps and food-soiled paper. Many factors play a role, including the ability to distinguish compostable and non-compostable food ware, the food ware item’s thickness as well as time spent going through the composting process.

If you purchase office supplies, you can find many products that are environmentally preferable. These products will have less of an impact on the environment and human health than competing products. For instance, you can help close the recycling loop and create demand for the materials collected for recycling by buying products made from postconsumer recycled paper or plastic.

Good news! Environmentally friendly paper towels, bathroom tissue, paper napkins and facial tissue are readily available in Alameda County.

This fact sheet can help businesses and institutions find environmentally preferable cleaning products that can handle the same commercial, industrial, and residential cleaning needs as traditional cleansers.

The San Francisco Department of the Environment maintains this list of distributors of compostable products, such as plates, cutlery, and to-go containers. Includes distributors’ contact information.

These guidelines and tips supplement the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Model Policy. Topics covered include implementation strategies by product category and best practices for program evaluation.

The StopWaste Sustainable Procurement Policy Template is designed to establish your agency’s core expectations around how your agency’s purchases will support your agency’s environmental, social, and economic values. It is intended to provide overall authority and direction for action, and type of action, via the “Core Strategies”, while leaving specific “how” details to supporting resources – the Sustainable Purchasing Guides.