France launches eco-paper purchasing guide

A French green public procurement taskforce has issued a guide to buying paper products. The taskforce was created a year ago in the context of increasing EU efforts to make public purchasing decisions greener (EED 03/02/05). It has already produced a general handbook on eco-purchasing. Next year it will issue a guide to eco-procurement of timber products. The guide explains the environmental impacts of paper production, use and disposal and describes the various ecolabels on the market. See press release and guide.