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Buying Recycled Products

Markets for recovered materials are needed to absorb the new supply of recyclables entering the marketplace. One way to expand these markets is to purchase recycling products.

What is a Recycled Product?

The term "recycled product" means a product produced in whole or in part from secondary material recovered from converting waste or post-consumer waste. Recycled product may also mean a product that has been rebuilt, such as a rebuilt engine.

Recycling Involves Three Elements

As represented by the three arrows in the recycling symbol, recycling involves three elements: collection, manufacturing and reuse. The three elements must be in balance to fully realize the potential of recycling as a means of waste management, energy conservation and resource conservation. Merely collecting recyclables is not recycling. Recycling is successful only when recovered materials are returned to the economic mainstream in the form of new raw materials or products.

The overall goal of a "Buy Recycled" program is to convince manufacturers that demand exists for recycled products. This provides an incentive to make investments in new recycling equipment.

Government Programs Have Helped Encourage New Markets

Government sponsored "Buy Recycled" programs have already created a good climate for private sector efforts. Maryland law includes a five percent preference for recycled products and a requirement that 40 percent of State paper purchases be recycled paper. Additionally, a number of local governments and regional organizations in Maryland have instituted buying policies that favor recycling products.

Businesses and non-profits in Maryland also are beginning to use recycled products, but much more remains to be done. Buying recycled products, a major step in the waste reduction and recycling process, requires the following tasks:

How to Implement a Recycled Product Purchasing Program

1. Make a Commitment to Buy: Establish a policy to buy recycled products. This commitment will provide leadership to users. It shows manufacturers and suppliers that a consistent, long-term demand exists.

2. Review Purchasing Specification: Review existing specifications to eliminate prohibitions or limitations against recycled products. This includes obvious clauses such as "virgin products only" and more subtle specifications such as brightness levels for paper.

3. Use Common Definitions and Percentages: Organizations should use existing minimum content standards and definitions. Manufacturers cannot supply different products for very organization. Standard specifications enable manufacturers to offer commodity items at a lower cost than specialty items (see EPA paper guideline standards on page 21).

4. Buy a Variety of Recycled Products: Even though paper makes up the largest portion of the waste stream, buying recycled paper alone is not enough. Consider buying these recycled products:

Paper: letterheads, copy paper, corrugated, newsprint, files/folders, packaging, adding machine tape, cash register tape, food service products, pads, fax paper, bond, offset & mimeo, printing papers, envelopes

Plastics: garbage bags, brooms, carpets, buckets/trash cans, collection containers, lumber, mats, office supplies, parking stops, urinal screens, wall partitions

Rubber: retread tires, floor mats, floor tiles

Other: uniforms, auto parts, rerefined oil, compost, wiping cloths

Also, consider using recycling services such as tire retreading and oil recycling companies.

5. Test Products: Test recycled products to determine how they work on certain equipment and for particular end uses before purchasing large amounts. Consider "blind" tests of products to avoid bias against recycled products.

6. Use a Phased-in Approach: It is wise to phase-in the use of recycled products so that users can adjust to the program and manufacturers can make capital investments to produce recycled products.

7. Offer Price Incentives: Recycled products may be more expensive than virgin products. This may be due to the small number of manufacturers producing recycled products or changing economic conditions. The following three measures can help your organization fulfill its commitment to buy recycled products:

Offer a small price preference to suppliers (allow recycled products to be five to ten percent more expensive).
Consider life-cycle costing (where factors such as disposal costs are factored into the initial price).
Establish set-asides (where a certain percentage of purchases are reserved for recycled products).

Many public sector organizations have adopted price incentives as an investment in market development.

8. Foster Cooperation among Manufacturers, Vendors and Users: Organizations must actively solicit bids from manufacturers and vendors of recycled products and widely publicize the bids. Manufacturers and vendors must be encouraged to provide a wide range of products and let users know about them.

9. Participate in Cooperative Purchasing: Organizations should join together to buy recycled products. Cooperative purchases expand the volume purchased, reduce unit costs, help ensure availability and establish common specifications.

10. Waste Reduction and Recyclability: In addition to buying recycled products, organizations should buy recyclable products.

11. Educate Employees: Encourage your employees to request recycled products for their office product needs.

12. Keep Records: Keep good records on the recycled products you buy.

13. Publicize your Efforts: Provide information on the amount of recycled products purchased. This will encourage enthusiasm and increased participation in the program. It will encourage other organizations to establish similar efforts.

EPA Guidelines for Paper and Paper Products Containing Recovered Materials

EPA recommends that buyers update their minimum content levels at the highest levels that meet the statutory requirements, but no lower than the levels shown in the table below.

EPA's Recommended Content Levels for Paper Products
Item	Postconsumer Recovered Fiber (%):	Total Recovered Fiber (%):
Reprographic Paper (e.g., mimeo and duplicator paper, high-speed copier paper, and bond paper*)	30	30
Offset Paper (e.g., offset printing paper, book paper, and bond paper*)	30	30
Tablet Paper (e.g., offset paper such as note pads, stationery, and other writing papers)	30	30
Forms Bond (e.g., forms, computer printout paper, and ledger*)	30	>30
Envelope Paper Wove Kraft	30	30
White and colored (including manila)	10-20	10-20
Cotton Fiber Paper (e.g., cotton fiber papers, ledger, stationery and matching envelopes, and other writing* papers)	30	30
Text & Cover Paper (e.g., cover stock, book paper, stationery and matching envelopes, and other writing* paper)	30	30
Supercalendered	10	10
Machine Finish Groundwood	10	10
Papeteries	30	30
Check Safety Paper	10	10

These items can be made from a variety of printing and writing papers, depending on the performance characteristics of the item. Some of the papers are a commodity-type and some are specialty papers. EPA recommends that procuring agencies determine the performance characteristics required of the paper prior to establishing minimum content standards. Bond, ledger, or stationery made from cotton fiber paper or a text & cover paper, for example, have different characteristics than similar items made from commodity papers.

EPA's Recommended Recovered Fiber Content Levels for Coated Printing and Writing Papers
Item	Postconsumer Recovered Fiber (%):	Total Recovered Fiber (%):
Coated Printing Paper	10	10
Carbonless	30	30

EPA's Recommended Recovered Fiber Content Levels for Bristols
Item	Postconsumer Recovered Fiber (%):	Total Recovered Fiber (%):
File Folders (manila and colored)	30	30
Carbonless Dyed Filing Products	20	20-50
Cards (index, postal, and other, including index sheets)	20	50
Pressboard Report Covers and Binders	20	50
Tags and Tickets	20	20-50

NOTE: The content levels for all EPA recommendations should be read as X% recovered fiber, including Y% postconsumer fiber and not as X% recovered fiber plus Y% postconsumer fiber.

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