A new guide designed to make the public purchasing of sustainable IT hardware easier has been jointly published by the German Procurement Office of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Employment Agency, the Federal Environment Agency, and tech association BITKOM. The guide specifically looks at public tendering for inkjet and laser printers. Criteria assessed includes energy consumption, emissions, and the recyclability of the devices.

"The guide is intended to provide reliable and comprehensible help to public sector purchasers, as well as aiding procurers in companies and private institutions to integrate environmental aspects into their procurement of printers and multi-function devices," said Isabel Judge of BITKOM. The guide feeds into the German Federal Government's strategy for public procurement, which takes into account the social, environmental and economic aspects of procurement.

Federal, state and local governments spend about €19 billion annually for ICT products and services, including almost €2 billion for IT hardware - focusing this demand on innovative and environmentally friendly products, can have a major impact on protecting the environment. "The procurement of environmentally friendly IT hardware is for us an important topic. This guide shows how our environmental goals can be translated into concrete, targeted values, backed up by certification arrangements," said Hans-Hermann Eggers of the Federal Environment Agency.

For more information, visit verbande.com.