‘This is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how

Box 28 Green Building and Product Procurement 
David Baggs
What is and what is not an environmentally or health-preferred product, material or technol
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ogy (hereinafter described as ‘products’) is a major issue for the industry, as manufacturers 
often either knowingly or unknowingly promote products by the use of ‘greenwash’ or market-
ing language that makes products sound as though they provide environmental benefits even 
though they may actually not deliver all or any of the implied benefits. So how do designers, 
engineers, specifiers and building practitioners ‘cut the wheat from the chaff’? They need a 
reliable source of verified information. But what is an environmentally preferable product? It 
is defined (for the purposes of the Ecospecifier tool) as follows: 
1 An environmentally preferable product is a commercially available product or material 
that: 
• 
Embodies one or more unique environmental attributes or qualities as a result of 
deliberately eliminating or reducing potential environmental impacts across its life-
cycle, compared to other products in its category.
• 
Embodies one or more unique health attributes or qualities as a result of 
deliberately eliminating or reducing potential human heath impacts across its life-
cycle, compared to other products in its category. 
• 
Is a member of a product category that in itself embodies an ecologically- or health-
preferred product category (eg photovoltaic panels as a preference to diesel or 
petrol generators or fossil fuel powered electrical grid energy).
2
It is further characterized by its development and existence being significantly driven 
or motivated by environmental objectives, as opposed to an existing material that has 
undergone incremental environmental improvement.
3 It is also preferably distinguished by its accompanying product specifications, brochures 
and marketing materials, which clearly and explicitly explain and/or promote the 
relevant environmental attributes.
4 It has been awarded the Good Environmental Choice Australia or other Global Ecolabel 
Network member ecolabel.
5 It does not contain significant quantities of substances known to have deleterious 
ecological or health impacts, in particular: 
• 
Persistent organic pollutants 
• 
Carcinogenic compounds classified as Group 1 or 2 carcinogens by the IARC 
• 
Bio-accumulative compounds 
• 
Hormone disrupting compounds 
• 
Mutagenic compounds 
• 
Teratogenic compounds
• 
Substances listed in the National Pollutants Inventory (www.dpi.gov.au) as required 
to be reported as of 2002
• 
Substances sourced using processes deleterious to high conservation value and/or 
remnant natural ecological communities or bio-reserves
• 
Materials that create major environmental or health degradation 
Only with such a source of reliable, verified information on the ecological and health benefits 
of products can the industry hope to deliver reliable, forward movement on mitigating the 
ecological and health impacts of the existing or new built environments.

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Positive Development