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Local Sustainable Building Materials

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the City of Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania municipalities should provide tax incentives for sourcing local sustainable building materials and products for grocery development.

Local procurement of building materials and services can lower the environmental impact of a project. Unfortunately, most green material companies in this area are small businesses that cannot offer the same economies of scale as larger producers; thus prices on average are higher for these goods (although with increased energy prices, the cost of transport is making conventional building materials more expensive as well). A tax incentive that supports the procurement of local sustainable building materials offers the dual benefit of encouraging food retailers to look to local companies for materials and stimulates a captive market for local material producers for their products and services.

Example: The creation of a Smart Growth Tax Credit would encourage the adaptive re-use of vacant commercial parcels that predominate in many underserved communities throughout the city for sustainable grocery development.

See: New Jersey Smart Growth Tax Credit

Relevant Strategies: Materials and Resources / Environmental Concerns: Local/Regional Materials; Materials and Resources / Environmental Concerns: Reduce and Re-Use Materials; Materials and Resources / Environmental Concerns: Recycled Materials