Tips for evaluating environmental claims about products and services

Before making a decision to purchase goods or services from listed businesses, H2E encourages you to ask detailed questions about the nature of the products or services offered.

• Ask product vendors for evidence of their products’ environmental performance, including any certification, labeling or documented research findings that demonstrate products’ environmental preferability. Also ask about company experience with health care facilities and the availability of training.

• Ask consultants about the nature and scope of the services they offer, their staff qualifications and experience with health care waste reduction, mercury elimination, pollution prevention, and other environmental improvement processes, and for specifics of billing options (e.g. shared savings, per hour, per project).

• Request customer references for all vendors and consultants, and follow up to determine whether the products or services have performed as promised. Request data from customer references on waste reduction, cost savings and other specific indicators, as well as information about how well the business’s representatives worked with staff to implement any new processes or training.

For more information on environmental purchasing, vendor reporting, certification, and more, visit H2E’s EPP web pages.