By buying less and buying greener, we’re making a big difference to the environment and our local community.
The Power of Green Purchasing
To serve their residents, local governments must buy many things. And what we buy has an impact on the health of our environment. That’s why we make it our policy to buy smarter, leaner and greener.
We start by assessing our needs to make sure we are efficient with our resources and taxpayer dollars. Then, when we buy, we choose lower-emission and recycled-content products to help protect our climate, prevent pollution and preserve natural resources for future generations.
With every purchase we make, our departments and staff are our partners in ensuring a more sustainable future.
- Green purchasing at GSA: Learn more about our sustainable purchasing programs and successes.
- Climate Action Through Purchasing: Every purchase matters. Watch this short video to learn how small steps can make a big difference.
- Do you want to do business with the County? Learn about our sustainable purchasing policies.
Greener Products, Fewer Purchases
Alameda County makes a point of purchasing a wide range of green products—everything from office paper to vending machines to janitorial products. These products perform just as well and don’t raise our costs.
We’ve also found that sometimes the best purchase is one you don’t make. As landfill diversion champions, our Property & Salvage department re-uses County furniture, technology and other items.
Did you know that you can purchase lightly used office furniture from our Property & Salvage warehouse at pennies on the dollar? Enjoy the savings and become part of the reduce-reuse-recycle solution!
Alameda County’s motor vehicle fleet is consistently named one of the top 100 best government fleets in the country and one of the top 40 greenest government fleets.
Our motor vehicle fleet includes:
- More than 300 gas/electric hybrids and eight all electric vans
- Over 80 electric vehicles
- Over 75% of motor pool vehicles (shared by employees for on-the-job travel) are hybrid or Electric Vehicles
Clean Commute: With a variety of alternatives to driving solo, we’re taking more cars off the road and more exhaust out of the air in Alameda County.
Between 2010 and 2020, Alameda County employees have reduced annual paper use by over 8,000 cases. That’s the same as using about 4,500 fewer sheets of copy paper per employee.
Collectively, we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 425 cars from the road for one year! Saving paper also saves money by reducing paper purchase, printing, distribution, and storage needs. This means we can focus our taxpayer dollars where they belong: on critical programs to serve our residents.