July 8, 2008 — Boston, MA, Mayor Thomas M. Menino signed an executive order today decreeing that city departments must purchase only environmentally friendly cleaning products, hire only cleaning contractors with a specific "green" certification, and expand recycling programs, according to the online edition of the Boston Globe.

Some have complained that Boston’s City Hall and other municipal buildings have been too slow to adapt simple, consumer-oriented environmentally friendly steps, such as enabling lights to be shut off at night and providing easy-to-use recycling containers.

According to the Globe, the executive order mandates:

1. All City of Boston departments adhere to the City’s new green cleaning policy both for all city-managed building maintenance programs and for any new contracted maintenance services.

2. Within 60 days, the City of Boston purchasing agent and the chief of public property, in consultation with City departments, shall publish Environmentally Preferable Procurement (EPP) guidelines covering all goods and services purchased for building maintenance and operations.

3. All city departments shall seek to expand recycling programs in all municipal buildings and new cleaning services contracts.

4. Within 60 days, the city of Boston chief information officer, in consultation with city departments, shall issue a Green Information Technology Roadmap to further reduce municipal consumption of resources.

5. The city will establish a green operations coordinating committee to further pursue and develop additional measures to reduce municipal consumption and increase efficiency.

To read the full story, click here.