United States
                 Environmental
                 Protection Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5305W)
EPA530-F-97-049
 November 1997
                 Office of Solid Waste
xvEPA      Environmental
                  Fact  Sheet
                 EPA EXPANDS  COMPREHENSIVE
                 PROCUREMENT GUIDELINES (CPG)

    As part of its continuing program to promote the use of recovered materials, the Environmental
 Protection Agency (EPA) is expanding the government buy-recycled program by adding 12 new items to
 its CPG, which will make a total of 36 recycled content items designated for procurement.  EPA issued
 the CPG and related Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) in May 1995. The CPG designated
 24 items in seven product categories containing recycled content that government procuring agencies are
 required to purchase. The RMAN provides recommendations for purchasing the products designated in
 the CPG. The 1995 CPG and 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.
                      Categories and Designated Items
                      (Items in bold are designated in CPG II)
  Paper and Paper Products
  Vehicle Products
        Engine Coolants
        Re-refined Lubricating Oils
        Retread Tires
  Construction Products
        Building Insulation Products
        Carpet
        Cement and Concrete Containing
         Coal Fly Ash and Ground Granulated
         Blast Furnace Slag
        Consolidated and Reprocessed
         Latex Paint
        Floor Tiles
        Patio Blocks
        Shower and Restroom Dividers
          and Partitions
        Structural Fiberboard
        Laminated Paperboard
  Transportation Products
        Channelizers
        Delineators
        Flexible Delineators
         Parking Stops
         Traffic Barricades
         Traffic Cones
   Park and Recreation Products
         Plastic Fencing
         Playground Surfaces
         Running Tracks
   Landscaping Products
         Garden and Soaker Hoses
         Hydraulic Mulch
         Lawn and Garden Edging
         Yard Trimmings Compost
   Non-Paper Office Products
         Binders
         Office Recycling Containers
         Office Waste Receptacles
         Plastic Desktop Accessories
         Plastic Envelopes
         Plastic Trash Bags
         Printer Ribbons
         Toner Cartridges
   Miscellaneous Products
         Pallets

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    In section 6002 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Congress directed
government agencies to promote recycling by increasing their purchases of products containing recovered
materials.  RCRA requires EPA to designate products that can be made with recovered materials and to
recommend practices for buying these products.  Once a product is designated, procuring agencies are
required to purchase it with the highest recovered material content level practicable.

    President Clinton reinforced RCRA's buy-recycled components when he issued Executive Order
12873, requiring Federal agencies to establish an affirmative procurement program for EPA - designated
items purchased by the agencies.

Who Is Required to  Buy Recycled  Products?
    Under RCRA, the requirement to purchase an EPA-designated product containing recovered
materials applies to procuring agencies that spend more than $10,000 a year on that item. What is a
"procuring agency"?  Procuring agencies are federal, state, and local agencies, and their contractors, that
use appropriated federal funds. For example, if a county agency spends more than $10,000 a year on an
EPA-designated item, and part of that money is from appropriated federal funds, then the agency must
purchase that item 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.

What Is an Affirmative Procurement  Program?
    Affirmative procurement — or buy-recycled program ~ 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.  Programs should be flexible enough to incorporate newly
designated items, and must consist 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.

    Additionally, 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.

    The May 1995 RMAN provides general guidance for developing affirmative procurement programs.
Each RMAN provides recommendations for purchasing the designated items, including recovered
materials content levels and specifications.

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Preference Program
   A preference program is the system by which an agency implements its stated preference for
purchasing products containing recovered materials. RCRA identifies three options for preference
programs:

<  Minimum Content Standards specify the minimum amount of recovered materials that designated
   items should contain. EPA recommends ranges of recovered materials content that are currently
   available, and procuring agencies should establish their own standards based on these ranges.

<  Case-by-Case Policy Development is used when a procuring agency determines that minimum
   content standards are inappropriate for a specific procurement action. This option allows the
   procuring agency to establish a separate recovered materials content requirement for the specific
   procurement action, while still enabling the agency to procure the designated product with the highest
   amount of recovered materials practicable.

<  Substantially Equivalent Approaches, such as establishing service contracts for product
   remanufacturing, are used when minimum content standards are inappropriate. For example,
   procuring agencies may establish service contracts for remanufacturing toner cartridges.

Promotion  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.

Estimation, Certification, Verification, and Monitoring
   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.

May an Agency Purchase EPA-Designated Items that Do  Not
Contain Recovered Materials?
   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.

Does  the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Address Purchasing
of Products Designated in the CPG?
   Under RCRA section 6002, purchasing of EPA-designated items must be consistent with other
federal procurement requirements.  The FAR is the primary regulation used by Federal executive
agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services. On August 22, 1997 (62 FR 44809), the Civilian
Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council issued a final rule
amending the FAR to reflect the Federal government's preference for the acquisition of environmentally
sound and energy-efficient products and services and to incorporate the requirements of RCRA section
6002 and Executive Order 12873. The FAR revisions include

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solicitation provisions, clauses for obtaining certifications and estimates of recovered materials content
from contractors, and a requirement that agencies establish an affirmative procurement programs for
EPA-designated items.

Are Items  Designated in the CPG Environmentally Preferable
Products?
    Executive Order 12873 directs Federal agencies to identify and purchase environmentally preferable
products, which are products that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment
when compared to other products and services that serve the same purpose.  Generally, multiple
attributes are considered when purchasing environmentally preferable products, including energy use;
conservation of resources; impacts on air, water, and land; and use of toxic or hazardous constituents.
Products containing recovered materials have one of tghe attributes considered for environmentally
preferable products.

For More Information
    The Federal Register notices containing CPG I and II, RMAN I and II, and the Paper Products
RMAN are available in electronic format on the Internet  System through the EPA Public Access Server
at www.epa.gov/fedrgster.  The Federal Register citations are as follows: CPG 1-60 FR 21370, May 1,
1995; RMAN I - 60 FR 21386, May 1, 1995; Paper Products RMAN - 61 FR 26986, May 29, 1996;
CPG II - 62 FR 60961, November 13, 1997; and RMAN II- 62 FR 60995, November 13, 1997.

    For copies of fact sheets, product manufactures lists, and additional supporting information, go to
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/procure.htm. For additional information or to order paper copies
of any documents, call the RCRA 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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