As we  showed in our August 2008 report, equipment exported to developing  countries may be handled in a way that threatens human health and the  environment. Two Promising Initiatives Assist Federal Agencies in Procuring, Operating, and Disposing of Electronic Products in an Environmentally Preferable Manner

As we reported in November 2005, existing federal government  approaches to ensuring environmentally responsible management of  electronic equipment from procurement through disposal rely heavily on  two interrelated EPA electronic product stewardship initiatives. The first,  the electronic product environmental assessment tool (EPEAT®), assists  federal procurement officials in comparing and selecting laptop  computers, desktop computers, and monitors with environmentally  preferable attributes. The second, the federal electronics challenge (FEC),  helps federal agencies fully utilize the benefits of EPEAT-rated electronics  by providing resources to help agencies extend these products’ life spans,  operate them in an energy efficient way, and expand markets for recycling  and recovered materials by recycling them at end of life. EPEAT was developed along the lines of EPA’s and the Department of  Energy’s (DOE) Energy Star program in which the federal government  rewards manufacturers of energy-efficient products that ultimately save  money and protect the environment by providing them with a label for  their products that certifies these benefits. Federal Agencies and Facilities Have Increased Participation in EPEAT and FEC in Recent Years

As of December 31, 2008, EPA reported that 16 federal agencies and 215  federal facilities—representing slightly more than one-third of all federal  employees—participated in the FEC to some extent. In addition, according  to the 128 facilities that reported data to EPA, a majority of electronic  products purchased during 2008 were EPEAT-registered. For instance, in 2008 FEC participants reported to EPA and the Office of the  Federal Environmental Executive that 88 percent of all desktop computers,  laptop computers, and monitors they purchased or leased were EPEAT  registered. Procurement officials reported purchasing 95 percent of their  monitors with energy-efficient power management features enabled and 38  percent of computers with this feature. Finally, participants reported that 50  percent of electronics taken out of service were donated for reuse; 40  percent were recycled; 8 percent were sold; and 2 percent were disposed of. Through participation in the FEC, numerous federal facilities have  purchased greener electronic products, reduced the environmental impacts  of electronic products during use, and managed obsolete electronics in an  environmentally safe way. Opportunities Exist for More Federal Agencies and Facilities to Join EPA’s Initiatives, and Current Participants Can Significantly Strengthen Their Participation

The EPEAT and FEC accomplishments achieved to date are steps in the  right direction, but opportunities exist to significantly increase the breadth  and depth of federal agency and facility participation. First, agencies and  facilities representing almost two-thirds of the federal workforce are not  yet participating in these promising initiatives, despite Executive Order  13423. Instead, participation simply means these agencies have identified  their current practices for managing electronic products and set goals to  improve them. Moreover, as the FEC is an initiative aimed to encourage  and support participating agencies and facilities, it does not impose  consequences on those agencies who do not meet their goals. As a  practical matter, only 34 FEC facility participants (16 percent of  participants) reported to EPA that they managed electronic products in  accordance with FEC goals for at least one of the three lifecycle phases— procurement, operation, or disposal—with only 2 facilities showing they  did this for all three phases in 2008. As part of this  calculation, we added the environmental benefits attained if federal  agencies operated all EPEAT units in an energy efficient manner (i.e.,  enabled Energy Star features) and reused and recycled the end-of-life  electronics they replaced in accordance with FEC goals. This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the  United States.
Why GAO Did This Study

Advancing technology has led to increasing sales of new electronic devices. With this increase comes the dilemma of managing them at the end of their useful lives. If discarded with common trash, a number of environmental impacts may result, ranging from the loss of valuable resources to the potential release of toxic substances, such as lead. If recycled, they may be exported to countries with waste management systems that are less protective of human health and the environment that those of the United States. The federal government is the world's largest purchaser of electronics, spending nearly $75 billion on electronic products and services in 2009. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has helped implement several product stewardship initiatives to encourage responsible management of electronic products in all three phases of a product's lifecycle--procurement, operation, and end-of-life disposal. In response to a request to provide information on federal procurement and management of electronic products, GAO's testimony describes (1) EPA's electronic product stewardship initiatives, (2) federal agency participation in them, and (3) opportunities for strengthening participation. GAO's testimony is based on its prior work and updated with data from EPA. In our prior report, EPA agreed that increasing federal participation in its initiatives could be encouraged. Agency officials still agree with this finding.

What GAO Found

Federal government approaches to ensuring environmentally responsible management of electronic equipment from procurement through disposal rely heavily on two interrelated initiatives. The first initiative, the electronic product environmental assessment tool (EPEAT), was developed along the lines of EPA's and the Department of Energy's Energy Star program and assists federal procurement officials in comparing and selecting computers and monitors with environmental attributes that also routinely save money through reduced energy usage over the products' lives. The second initiative--the federal electronics challenge (FEC)--helps federal agencies realize the benefits of EPEAT-rated electronics by providing resources to help agencies extend these products' life spans, operate them in an energy efficient way, and expand markets for recovered materials by recycling them at end of life. The first 5 years of EPA's initiatives have resulted in notable energy savings and environmental benefits reported by participating agencies. According to facilities that reported information to EPA and the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive in 2008, 88 percent of all desktop computers, laptop computers, and monitors the facilities purchased or leased were EPEAT-registered. EPEAT participation reportedly resulted in procurement officials purchasing 95 percent of their monitors with Energy Star power management features enabled and 38 percent of computers with this feature. In addition, 16 federal agencies and 215 federal facilities--representing about one-third of all federal employees--participated in the FEC to some extent in 2008. As a result, participants reported that 50 percent of electronics taken out of service were donated for reuse, 40 percent were recycled, 8 percent were sold, and 2 percent were disposed of. The environmentally responsible choices associated with EPEAT and FEC resulted in a reported $40.3 million in cost savings for participants. The EPEAT and FEC accomplishments are steps in the right direction, but opportunities exist to increase the breadth and depth of federal participation. First, agencies and facilities representing about two-thirds of the federal workforce are not participating in these promising initiatives, despite instructions to do so in implementing Executive Order 13423. Second, few participating agencies and facilities maximize these programs' resources and their potential benefits. For some, participation simply means the agency identified its current practices for managing electronic products and set goals to improve them. Moreover, as the FEC aims to support participating agencies and facilities, it does not impose consequences for those that do not meet their goals. In fact, only 34 FEC facility partners showed they managed electronic products in 2008 in accordance with FEC goals for at least one of the three lifecycle phases, and only 2 facilities showed they did so for all phases. For perspective, GAO calculated that if federal agencies replaced 500,000 desktop and laptop computers and monitors with EPEAT-registered products and operated and disposed of them in accordance with FEC goals, they could achieve substantially greater energy reductions and cost savings.