AbilityOne^® and Greening Projects

The AbilityOne Program strives to add the latest in environmentally preferable products to the Procurement List. Our participating nonprofit agencies have proven their commitment to meeting the needs of Federal customers by seeking alternative methods and materials with which to produce the items they need most and by reengineering preexisting environmentally preferable products to make them even better. AbilityOne environmentally preferable products carry the new AbilityOne environmental logo, making them easy to identify in print and online catalogs.

Examples of AbilityOne environmentally preferable products and service contracts include:

Biodegradable Paper Cups and Disposable Cutlery

Clovernook Center for the Blind, Cincinnati, Ohio, reengineered an already environmentally preferable biodegradable paper cup to make it even more environmentally desirable. They accomplished their goal by switching to paper that is process chlorine free.

LC Industries (LCI), Signature-Works division in Hazlehurst, Mississippi manufactures plastic disposable cutlery made using a chemical additive that makes the plastic break down into nontoxic residue. LCI is also researching alternative biobased (e.g., corn and wheat starch-based) resins to use in the manufacture of disposable cutlery.

100% Recycled Products

Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) redesigned the familiar lined office writing pad according to the highest degree of environmental standards-100% recycled, 100% postconsumer and process chlorine free. The writing tablet is visually and performance-wise indistinguishable from a virgin paper product.

Envision, of Wichita, Kansas, now offers Federal customers plastic trash bags made using 100% recycled plastic. Other agencies furnish stick pens, pencils and clipboards manufactured using recycled plastic, and biobased cornstarch resin rather than virgin plastic.

Environmental Cleaning Agents

AbilityOne-participating nonprofits are actively exploring adding alternative, non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning agents and other chemicals, such as "biologically built" (i.e., microbial) cleaning liquids to the Procurement List.

Environmental Cleaning Services

Fedcap, Inc., an AbilityOne-participating nonprofit agency in New York, worked with the Department of the Interior on a highly visible environmental cleaning contract located at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Water and Energy Efficient Laundry

Eggleston Services and GWS, Inc. have implemented water and energy efficiency standards into their large volume laundry contracts at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital and the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.