10 Questions for Bill Propst

As director of campus purchasing, Bill Propst is in charge of maximizing the use of environmentally friendly products. On March 4, his office hosted the Annual Alliance Supplier & BruinBuy Trade Show, where about 100 suppliers exhibited everything from sustainable toilet paper to information technology equipment. Propst talked to Today Staff Writer Ajay Singh about UCLA's sustainability initiative.

Photo by Reed Hutchinson

When did your office start a sustainability program and why?

We started a couple of years ago, about the same time as an initial policy by the UC Office of the President about sustainability. Because of the attention to issues like global warming in the press, it's important to try to understand what UC is doing in a number of areas, whether it's green buildings, clean energy standards, recycling — or what I do, environmentally preferable purchasing.

What kind of merchandise does your office deal with?

A range of goods and services — office supplies, furniture, computers, equipment for research medical equipment, the pharmaceuticals that some of our doctors use in their practices.

What does the effort entail?

To give one example, we encourage the campus to buy recycled content — in products like copier paper, hand towels in restrooms; another is energy-saving "Energy Star" appliances. And people have been making these changes. Responsible disposal, especially for things like electronic waste, is another area.

What can people do to embrace sustainability?

If campus faculty and staff ask suppliers, 'Tell me what you're doing to reduce your carbon footprint,' suppliers recognize that sustainability is important to UCLA.

What can departments do on a day-to-day level?

Aggregate orders and order fewer times per week. Our suppliers will incur less drive time and delivery cost, reducing greenhouse gases and allowing vendors to pass cost savings to us.

What about green certifications?

For refrigerators and microwaves in department kitchens, we should make sure we are buying Energy Star equipment. The Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is another category for computers and monitors. The Forest Stewardship Council certifies wood from sustainable operations. "Green seal" pertains to cleaning products that impact less on the environment.

Give us an example of sustainable purchasing for, say, the life sciences.

We and our counterparts on other campuses are trying to work toward the development of Energy Star-rated freezers for labs.

And for information technology?

We want to have at least a bronze certification under EPEAT for computers, which meet a certain level of compliance. Virtually all the computers we buy have "silver" certification and are Energy Star.

Sounds like a smooth process.

One of the things we're proud of is that the sustainability policy itself helped UC win the Environmental Protection Agency's award for sustainability.

Any snags?

It's a lot of work, but the progress is great to see.