Color Your IT Schedule Green GSA’s information technology schedules are going green. The agency announced that IT products will be removed from the multiple award schedule contracts unless they comply with Energy Star or the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). EPA and GSA will promote development of new environmental performance standards for categories of electronic products not covered by current standards. The announcement is part of the Obama administration’s National Strategy for Electronic Stewardship. The strategy is intended to: • promote the development of more efficient and sustainable electronic products; • direct federal agencies to buy, use, reuse and recycle their electronics responsibly; • support recycling options and systems for American consumers; and • strengthen America’s role in the international electronics stewardship arena. Dell and Sprint have signed an agreement to promote a U.S.-based recycling market. GSA said several federal agencies will work together to identify methods for tracking used electronics in federal agencies to move toward reuse and recycling. EPA has estimated that the government disposes of 10,000 computers every week. The government will also seek to expand the use of manufacturer take-back agreements in federal electronics purchase, rental and service contracts. “The nation’s largest single consumer of electronics, the federal government, will now be the nation’s most responsible user of electronics. The steps outlined in the report will ensure that government leads by example and that the billions of dollars in IT equipment the government cycles through annually will be either reused or recycled properly,” GSA Administrator Martha Johnson said at a July 20 kickoff event in Austin, TX.