UnitedStates
Environmental
Protection Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5305W)
EPA530-F-96-043
November 1996
Office of Solid Waste
Environmental
Fact Sheet
AMENDMENT PROPOSED FOR
COMPREHENSIVE PROCUREMENT
GUIDELINES (CPG)
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to add 13 new items to its CPG,
which will make a total of,32 recycled content items designated for procurement EPA issued
the CPG and related draft Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) in May 1995. The
CPG designated 19 items in seven product categories containing recycled content that
government procuring agencies are required to purchase. The 1995 RMAN covered: paper
and paper products, vehicular products, construction products, transportation products, park
and recreation products, landscaping products, and nonpaper office products. Guidelines for
paper and paper products were revised in May 1996.
ITEMS PROPOSED FOR DESIGNATION
Construction Products
Latex Paint .
Shower and Restroom Dividers
Landscaping Products
Garden and Soaker Hoses
Lawn and Garden Edging
Miscellaneous Products
Pallets .
Nonpaper Office Products
InkJet Cartridges
Plastic Envelopes
Printer Ribbons
Park and Recreation Products
Snow Fencing
Transportation Products
Channelizers
Delineators
Flexible Delineators
Parking Stops
Section 6002 of the Resource Conservation arid Recovery Act (RCRA) establishes a
government buy-recycled program. Its purpose is to use federal purchasing power to enhance
markets for materials diverted or recovered from the solid waste stream. RCRA requires EPA
to (1) designate items that are made with recovered materials, and (2) recommend practices
for procuring these items. Once these items are designated, RCRA requires procuring
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agencies to develop affirmative procurement programs and begin purchasing the designated
items. Procuring agencies are federal, state, and local agencies that use appropriated federal
funds to buy designated items, as well as contractors to all three. Item designations are
codified in 40 CFR Part 247.
President Clinton reinforced RCRA's buy-recycled components when he issued Executive
Order 12873 requiring EPA to designate items containing recycled content, and to
recommend ranges of recycled content for each product designated in the CPG.
Affirmative Procurement Program
Affirmative procurement is an agency's strategy for maximizing its purchases of EPA-
designated items. These programs should assure that procured items are composed of as much
recovered material as possible, under the federal procurement law. Programs should be
flexible enough to incorporate newly designated items, and should consist of at least four of
the following components: •
• A recovered materials preference program;
• An agency promotion program;
• A program for requiring vendors to reasonably estimate, certify, and verify the
recovered materials content of their products; and .
. • A program to monitor and annually review the effectiveness of the affirmative
procurement program.
Within one year following EPA designation of items, procuring agencies must revise their
specifications to require the use of recovered materials to the maximum extent possible
without jeopardizing the intended end use of items.
Applicability
Procuring agencies are federal, state, and local agencies, and their contractors, that use
appropriated federal funds. The procurement guidelines apply to procuring agencies that
spend more than $10,000 a year on a designated item. For example, if a county agency spends
more than $10,000 a year on carpet, and part of that money is from appropriated federal
funds, then the agency must purchase carpet made from recovered materials.
Purchases unrelated or incidental to the purpose of federal funding are not subject to these
requirements. When it is not apparent that the guidelines apply to a purchase, EPA encourages
procuring agencies to follow the guidelines to help expand markets for products made from
recovered materials.
Program Implementation
A. preference program is the system by which an agency implements its stated preference
for purchasing products containing recovered materials. There are three optional types of
preference programs.
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— A Minimum Content Standards Program, which specifies the minimum amount of /
recovered materials that items should contain. While EPA recommends ranges of
i recovered materials content, procuring agencies should establish their own standards.
— A Case-by-Case Program, which requires purchases from vendors who offer items
containing the highest amount of recovered materials available. This policy is generally
used when a procuring agency cannot obtain an item meeting its specified minimum
content standard.
— A Substantially Equivalent Program, which facilitates the purchase of items with no
applicable minimum content standards. For example, procuring agencies may establish
service contracts for remanufacturing toner cartridges.
Promote the Program
Agencies must actively advertise their desire to buy recycled products, both within their
organizations and to product vendors; Internal promotion usually is a broad-based employee
education program that affirms an agency's procurement policy through advertising,
workshops, agency newsletters, and technical and staff manuals. Examples of external
promotion include publishing articles in trade journals, participating in vendor shows or trade
fairs, placing statements in bid solicitations, and discussing an agency's procurement policy at
bidders'conferences. . _ .
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Estimate, Certify, Verify, and Monitor the Program
Agencies must establish procedures for estimating, certifying, and, where appropriate,
reasonably verifying the amount of recovered materials content used in a product. Programs
also must be monitored and tracked to ensure that they are fulfilling their requirements to
purchase items composed of recovered materials.
Exclusions
Agencies may elect not to purchase designated items when: the cost is unreasonable;
inadequate competition exists; items are not available within a reasonable period of time; or
items do not meet reasonable performance specifications. .
For More Information
The Federal Register notice, the CPG, the RMAN, and this fact sheet are available in electronic
format on the Internet System through the EPA Public Access Server. For additional information or to
order paper copies of any documents, call theRCRA Hotline. Callers within the Washington
Metropolitan Area must dial 703-412-9810 or TDD 703-412-3323 (hearing impaired). Long-distance
callers may call 1-800-424-9346 or TDD 1-800-553-7672. The RCRA Hotline operates weekdays, 9:00
,a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Write to the RCRA Information Center (5305W), US EPA, 401 M Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20460.
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