EPEAT^TM Development

The EPEAT tool was developed as a product stewardship project of the Zero Waste Alliance over the period between August 2002 and January 2006 under a grant from the US EPA. EPEAT was made possible by the involvement of many dozens of people from manufacturing, environmental, academic and recycling organizations and the US EPA. These people served on Development and Implementation Teams and their many sub committees. The We offer most sincere thanks to these individuals.

Preparation Phase - August 2002 to February 2004

Initially a Steering Committee was formed to assess the need and likely acceptance of an environmental assessment procurement tool, select a development team and provide initial guidance. A national meeting was held in June 2003, hosted by Intel at their Chandler AZ facilities. In the meeting it was decided that the EPEAT tool should be developed and guidance issued. A development team was then formed by issuing invitations broadly to the many stakeholder groups above. List of Development and Implementation Team members

The Team met both in person and by teleconference over an 18-month period to determine basic principles and specific goals to guide its efforts. Examples of the goals include:

• Promote continuous improvement while encouraging innovation;
• Address the life cycle of computers and monitors;
• Inform the decisions of institutional purchasers;
• Provide a market advantage for environmentally preferable electronic products;
• Cause minimal delay in time to market, be low cost and user friendly;
• Produce credible, verifiable outcomes that are accepted by relevant stakeholders; and
• Provide sufficient value in the marketplace to sustain itself.

Development Phase - November 2003 to November 2005

The EPEAT draft environmental criteria and the procedures for validation represent the results of an 18 month-long multi-stakeholder process. The EPEAT Development Team was composed of representatives of the following stakeholder groups:

• Public & Private Institutional Purchasers
• Manufacturers
• Trade Associations
• Non-Profit and Advocacy Organizations
• Government
• Electronic Recyclers
• Academics

The process for developing the draft criteria included use of ANSI essential requirements , including the need for openness, balance, consideration of all views, and consensus decision-making.

Each criterion was evaluated alongside the others to ensure that EPEAT is a balanced and comprehensive tool that covers multiple environmental attributes throughout the product’s life cycle. The criteria are stringent enough to promote better environmental design, manufacture, and end-of-life management, while reflecting existing technologies and technical limitations so that a sufficient supply of EPEAT-qualified products will be available to purchasers. Specific criteria are drawn heavily from existing U.S. and international requirements and standards such as Energy Star® , the European Union’s Restriction on Hazardous Substances Directive, and the IT-Eco Declaration.. The EPEAT Development Team chose to build on existing legal and market requirements to reduce overlap and possibly conflicting requirements on product producers. Because this tool is intended first for the use of federal government purchasers, the development team also checked criteria against existing federal procurement requirements, to ensure that the tool would be useable in this setting.

A description of the development of EPEAT was published in the IAITAM PROCESS MANAGEMENT magazine. Click here for a copy (PDF 2.62MB) An in-depth report on the development phase process and results is also available. Click here for a copy (PDF 1.79MB)

The resulting set of environmental attributes and criteria was accepted by unanimous agreement. One letter of dissention was received requesting more stringent requirements regarding prison labor and the export of electronic waste. For a copy of the letter, click here (PDF 60K).

During its deliberations, the Development Team found the EPA "Plug into eCycling" Guidelines to be a valuable addition to the other criteria. The team had concerns, however, that the Guidelines were not clear enough regarding export of nonworking equipment or materials to countries outside the United States – particularly to countries that are signatories to the Basel Convention. A letter on behalf of the Development Team was prepared and submitted to the EPA "Plug into eCycling" program to request clarification. For a copy of the letter, click here (PDF 204K). A response letter was received that lists the 165 parties to the Basel Convention and notes that the US is a signatory, but has not ratified the Convention. It also lists the 31 OECD countries and indicates clarifying guidance for transboundary shipments is currently being prepared. For a copy of the letter, click here (PDF 1.1M).

Following a successful national meeting to explore the viability of such a tool, a development team was formed. The Team met five times between November 2003 and November 2004 and participated in over a hundred conference calls as a whole and in various subcommittees to develop the draft criteria and supporting system.  The subcommittees included those dealing with the tool structure, the individual criteria, and the selection of the Host Organization for the tool, as well as ad hoc subgroups convened to discuss particularly complex or challenging issues. To the greatest extent possible, all subgroups retained a balance between the different stakeholder constituencies.The following meetings were held:

• Meeting 1 - November 2003, Fairfax, VA
• Meeting 2 - January 2004, Austin TX, thanks to Dell Computer
• Meeting 3 - April  2004, Chicago, IL, thanks to United Recycling
• Meeting 4 – July 2004 Portland, OR, thanks to Intel
• Meeting 5 – November 2004, Washington, DC, Thanks to the US EPA HQ

Implementation Phase - November 2004 to June 2006

The Development Team has completed its work, and a smaller Implementation Team took over to implement EPEAT. The primary tasks of the Implementatin Team were to identify an organization to host the final tool, carry out an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards development process to provide maximum openness and public exposure as the the criteria were finalized. This work was done through several subcommittees:

• Host Organization Selection
• Budget and Resources
• Criteria (ANSI Standard Development)
• Communications (Marketing and outreach)
• Web Application (To provide easy access to registered products for institutional purchasers)

The Implementation Team met twice with the target to have its work finished and the EPEAT system formally launched by June 2006. Two Implementation Team meetings were held:

• Meeting 1 - March 2005, Washington DC, thanks to the US EPA HQ
• Meeting 2 - January 2006, Houston, TX, thanks to Dell Computer

Prior to the second meeting, the host organization selection committee had completed the RFP process for selection of the Host Organization and had chosen the Green Electronics Council to be the EPEAT host. Green Electronics Council personnel attended the meeting and presented their approach to make EPEAT a success including selection of a board of advisors, marketing and promotion, product verification plans and funding model.

Following all reports and discussion, the Implementation voted unanimously to turn further implementation of EPEAT over to the Green Electronics Council and disband as an organization. It was recognized that many or all of the members may be called upon to support questions concerning and upgrades to the EPEAT ANSI Standard.