003
Wednesday
June 22, 198«
Part VI!
Environmental
Protection Agency
40 CFR Part 250
Guideline for Federal Procurement of
Paper and Paper Products Containing
Recovered Materials; Final Rule
Printed on Recycled Paper
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23548 Federal Register / Vol. 53.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 250
1SWH-FRL 3385-7]
Guideline for Federal Procurement of
Paper and Paper Products Containing
Recovered Materials
AGENCY: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
ACTION; Final rule.
SUMMARY: 1 he Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) today is issuing a revised
guideline for Federal procurement of
paper and paper products containing
recovered materials. The revised
guideline supersedes the final paper
procurement guideline promulgated by
EPA on October 8,1987 (52 FR 37293). It
provides for the use of postconsumer
recovered materials in most grades of
paper; in the case of printing and writing
papers, it provides for the use of waste
paper, while in the case of cotton fiber
papers, it provides for the tree of
recovered materials.
The guideline implements Section
6002(e) of the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), as
amended, which requires EPA (1) to
designate items which can be produced
with recovered material* and (2) to
prepare guidelines to assist procuring
agencies in complying with the
requirements of Section 8002. Once EPA
has designated an item, Section 6002
requires that any procuring agency usino
appropriated Federal funds to procure
that item must purchase such items
containing the highest percentage of
recovered materials practicable.
This guideline designates paper'and
paper products as items for which the
procurement requirements of RCRA
Section 6002 apply. The guideline also
contains recommendations for
implementing the Section 6002
procurement requirements, as well as
the requirements to revise
specifications. Revisions to the guideline
recommend the use of specific minimum
content standards, define "waste paper"
and ' cotton fiber content papers." and
make recommendations regarding data
gathering to meet the annual review and
monitoring requirement
ffEy* Dr*TE*: The revi8ed guideline
is effective June 22.1988. Procuring
agencies must implement the
requirements of RCRA Section 6002 with
respect to procurement of paper and
paper products according to the
following schedule:
Completion of specification revisions
and development of affirmative
procurement programs: Jane 22,1989.
Commencement of procurement of
paper and paper products in accordance
with RCRA Section 6002: June 22,1989.
ADDRESS: The public docket for this
guideline may be inspected in RoonvLG-
100, U.S. EPA, 401M Street, SW.f
Washington, DC from 9:00 am to 4:00
pm, Monday through Friday, excluding
holidays. To review docket materials,
the public must make an appointment by
calling (202) 475-9327. Materials may be
copied from any regulatory docket at a
cost of 15 cents per page. Copying
totaling less than $15 is free.
TOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
RCRA Hotline, toll-free, at (800) 424-'
9346 or at (202) 382-3000. For technical
information, contact William Sanjour
Office of Solid Waste, WH-563, US
EPA, 401M Street, SW., Washington,
DC 20460. telephone: (202) 382-4502.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Preamble Outline
I. Authority
II. Introduction
A. Purpose and Scope
B. Requirements of Section 6002
C. Rationale for Selecting Paper and Paper
Products Containing Recovered Materials
tor a Procurement Guideline
W. Background Information on Using Recov-
ered Materials in Paper and Paper Products
• A. Introduction
B.-Use of Recovered Materials in Paper and
C. Recovered Materials
D. Performance
1. Printing/Writing Papers
2. Fiber Boxes
E. Ma|or Federal Purchasers
IV. Discussion of Guideline
A. Purpose and Scope
B. Applicability
1. Procuring Agencies
2. Direct Purchases
3. Indirect Purchases
4. The $10,000 Threshold
5. Functionally Equivalent Items
C. Requirements vs. Recommendations
D. Organization of the Revised Guideline
E. Definitions
1. "Paperboard"
2. "Practicable"
3. "Waste Paper"
4. "Mill Broke"
5. "Cotton Fiber"
F. Specifications
1. General
a. Federal agencies
b. Procuring agencies
2. Recommendations
3. Exclusion of Products That Do Not
Meet Performance Standards
4. Specifications Related to Aesthetics
5. New Specifications
G. Affirmative Procurement Program
• 1. Recovered Materials Preference Pro-
gram
a Case-by-case approach
b. Minimum content standards
(1) Legal considerations
(2) Methods for establishing minimum
content standards
(3) Basis of recommended minimum
•content standards
(4) Archival papers
2. Promotion Program
3. Estimation, Certification, and Verifica-
tion
a. Estimation'
b. Certification
, c. Verification
4. Annual Review and Monitoring
V. Price, Competition, Availability, and Per-
formance
A. Price •
B. Competition
C. Availability
D. Performance
VI. Implementation
VII. Summary of Supporting Analyses
A.General
B. Environmental and Energy Impacts
C. Volume Reduction and Cost Impacts of
Reducing Paper Disposal in Landfills
D. Executive Order No. 12291
E. Regulatory Flexibility Act
I. Authority
This revised guideline is issued under
the authority of Sections 2002(a) and
6002 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as'
amended by the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended,
42 U.S.C. 6912(a) and 6962.
n. Introduction
A. Purpose and Scope
The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) today is revising the final paper
procurement guideline, which is one in a
aeries of guidelines designed to
encoarage the use of products
containing materials recovered from
solid waste. Section 8002 of the
Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act of 1976, as amended ("RCRA" or
"Act"), 42 U.&C. 6962, states that if a
Federal, State, or local procuring agency
use* Federal funds to purchase certain
designated items, such items must be
composed of the highest percentage of
recovered materials practicable. EPA is
required to designate such items and to
prepare guidelines to assist procuring
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Fedsmt Sapater / Vol. 53, N«fc. 120 / Wednesday. June 22. 138fr / Rales and Regnlaaons 23St7
agencies in complying with that
reqakeraentoof Section 8CO£
EPAtesaedthefirslofthes*
guideline*;, for cement andcaaeret*
containing fly ash. on r«»a£2«.19
(48 FR 423* 40 CPR Part JM^pA second
guideline, for paper and pepe*products
containing recovered material* was
issued onOctober 8,1987 (52 FR 3729$
40 CFR Part 250); EPA concurrently
•proposed minimum recovered materials
content standard! for paper and paper
product* A third guideline, for asphalt
material* containing ground tire rubber,
was proposed on February 20.1988 (51
FR 6202). A fourth guideline, for engine
lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, and
gear oils containing re-refined oils, was-
proposed on October 1ft 1987 (82 FR
38838). EPA also proposed a guideline
for procurement of retread tires on May
2.1988 (53 FR 15624). „ ,
Today EPA is revising the final
guideline for paper and paper products
to incorporate the proposed-
amendments. Because EPA is changing-.
its recommendation for the preference
program component of the affirmative
procurement program and this change
affects all other requirements and'
recommendations, the revised guideline
supersedes the previous (October 8, •
1987) final guideline. Note that most
provisions of the October 8.1987 final
guideline am not changed in the revised
final guideline; EPA is including a
discussion of these provisions in the '
preamble today as a convenience to the
reader.
B. Requirements of Section 6002
Section 8002 of the Act "Federal
Procurement." directs all procuring
agencies that use Federal funds to
procure items that contain the highest.
percentage of recovered materials
practicable, and in the case of paper.
postconsumer recovered materials,
provided that reasonable levels of
competition, cost, availability, and
technical performance are maintained.
Two factors trigger this requirement
First. EPA most designate items tcv
which this requirement •ppUefc Second*
the requirement applies only when, the
purchase price of the item exceed*
$10,000 or when the quantity of such
items or of functionally equivalent items
purchased or acquired in the course of
the preceding fiscal year was $10.000 or
more.
Section 6002fe) requires procuring
agencies to obtain from suppliers an
estimate of and certification regarding
the percentage of recovered materials
contained in their products.
Federal agencies responsible for
drafting or reviewing specifications for
procurement items were required under
Section aD02(d)(l) to review and revise
the specifications by May 8,1988 u»
order to eliminate both exclusions of -
recovered materials and requirements
that items be manufactured from virgin
materials. ID addition; within one year
after the date of publication of B
procuramest guideline by EPA, the
Federal agencies must revise their
specifications to require the use of
recovered material* in such items to the
maximum extent possible without
affecting the intended use of the item.
Section SOI of the Hazardous and
Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (Pub.
L. 98-616) added paragraph (i) to Section
6002 of RCRA. This provision requires
procuring agencies to develop an
affirmative procurement program for
procuring items designated by EPA. The
program must assure that item*
composed of recovered materials will be
purchased to the maximum extent
practicable, be consistent with
applicable provisions of Federal
procurement law, and contain at least •
four elements:
(1) A recovered materials preference
program;
(2) An agency promotion program;
(3) A program for requiring.estimates,
certification, and verification of
recovered material content; and
(4) Annual review and monitoring of
the effectiveness of the procurement
program.
Under Section 6002(6), EPA is required
to issue guidelines for use by procuring
agencies in complying with the
requirements of Section 8002. The EPA
guidelines must provide v
recommendations for procurement
practices and information on.
availability, relative price, and
performance.
C. Rationale for Selecting Paper and
Paper Products Containing Recovered
Materials for a Procurement Guideline
In the preamble to the fly ash
guideline. EPA established criteria for
the selection of procurement items for
which guidelines will be prepared.
Section 6002(e) of RCRA specifically
directs the EPA Administrator to issue a
procurement guideline for paper,
however. The term "paper" is construed
by EPA to include paperboard and
paper products also. Since Congress
already has selected paper and paper
products as appropriate subjects for a
procurement guideline, it is not
necessary for EPA to determine that
they are an appropriate subject for a
guideline nor to demonstrate that paper
and paper products satisfy the EPA
criteria.
HL BadcgBBUod hiEnimartqp on Usiag
Recovered Materials ia Paper sad Paper
Product*
A. Introduction
In 1988. Jibont aOmiffion tons of paper
and paper products wen coBstoned to
the U.S.A* of which about 2S.8 rafflon
tons were i-ecovered for recycling and
about 50 million tons were disposed of*
primarily in municipal solid waste
landfills. This is about half of ail
manufactured product waste appearing
in municipiii solid waste and about 35
percent of all municipal sotid waste
discarded ('principally from households,
commercial businesses, and
institutional). By any measure, paper and
paper products constitute a major
portion of nolid waste in this country.
The nation spends more than S9-
billion annually on solid waste disposal.
Most communities are running out of
landfill cajwcity, and the siting of new
landfills has become very difficult. Thus,-
activity to promote recovery and reuse
of paper and paper products is a matter
of national priority both to reduce the
cost of d!s]posal and to extend the life of
existing landfills.
It should be noted, however, thai
paper and paper product disposal is not
known to lie a significant threat to
human health or the environment as the
wastes ant generally nonhazardous in
character. Thus, while the disposal of
paper doe« not present an urgent need
for immediate solution from die health
and environment viewpoint, it is being
addressed because many areas of the
U.S. are running out of disposal options
for all wastes and-face serious crises
unless the solid waste streams can be
reduced and/or disposed of in an
acceptabht manner.
B. Use of Recovered Materials in Paper
and Paper Products
Within the paper industry and its
suppliers, discarded" paper recovered for
use in manufacturing processes is called
waste papier, recyclable paper, or paper
stock. It is often kept separate from
mixed refuse at the businesses and
residences where it is discarded. For
example, businesses may separate and
bale used corrugated containers to be
picked up by a waste paper dealer, and
people may separate newspapers in
their home's to be donated to a local
paper drivt for a charity. Soma
businesses and institutions separate
office papers in office buildings by
means of a de«k top sorting container or
other wayiu Waste paper that is
separated and collected is then
customarily transferred to a waste paper
dealer, who prepares the paper for
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23548
Regulations
chipmem by baling or other means, and
sells the waste paper to a paper mill.
A! th* paper mill, waste paper is
mix!-; with water in a large vessel with
rotal-'ns beaters at the bottom similar to
but larger than a kitchen blender.The
bating process separates the paper •
fioers and forms a slurry pulp. This
recycled pulp is similar in appearance to
virgin pulp prepared from wood.
Recycled pulp is then cleaned and
washed as necessary. In some recycling
processes, the recycled pulp is washed
with chemicals to remove inks.
adhesive, and other contaminants. This
process is referred to within the paper
industry as "deinking". After, deinking.
the recycled pulp is equivalent to virgin
pulp. Both recycled and virgin pulps are
formed into paper and paper products in
a similar fashion.
Paper products are manufactured from
either virgin or recovered materials, or
combinations of the two, by various
manufacturers. Tests have shown that
for * given product grade there is :a wide
variation in all measurable
characteristic* depending on particular
manufacturers or particular production '
runs at a given mill Product* from both
virgin and recovered materials generally
rail into the same range of variability '
and frequently, they cannot be'
distinguished by the typical ena-ttser
However, recycled-.paperfibers do
tend to be shorter thanr virgin' fibers"
because of the recycling prbceB8."flie. :
short fibers may cause recycled paper to
be weaker than an otherwise equivalent ;
virgin sheet, bufthe sheet will also have
a higher opacity. In paperboard
products, the recycled grade Is,,
sometimes produced at a somewhat
higher caliper (thickness) than the •
equivalent virgin fiber product to ensure
similar performance characteristics..
Paper and paperboard manufacturers
can generally manufacture products that
meet customer specifications by taking
into account the characteristics of paper
made from recovered material For seme
products the recycled fiber
characteristics are preferred; for most
there need not be any differences
distinguishable by the end user.
Some recycled fiber is derived from
•paper containing printing, or from paper
that has other materials such as coatings
or adhesives on it. Paper made from
these recovered-materials sometimes
does not have quite the same
appearance as virgin paper. It is not •
quite as bright, or as white, or has a
grayish or bluish tint, and it is
sometimes speckled in appearance. '
Recycled paper manufacturers can
bleach and brighten the paper and clean
contaminants from the pulp. Coatings •
can also be added to the paper surface
to enhance its "whiteness" and
"brightness". These processes allow
paper made from recovered materials to
meet customer specifications.
EPA concludes that as a general rule.
paper containing recovered materials
can be manufactured to meet customer
specifications. Commenters have
questioned whether paper made from
recovered materials is always available
at all locations at a reasonable price.
This concern is addressed later in this
preamble.
C. Recovered Materials
As previously explained, RCRA
requires EPA to designate item* which
..can be produced with "recovered .
materials?'. Section 6002(h) of RCRA
divides the universe of-recovered paper
materials into (1) postconsumer .
materials and (2) manufacturing, forest.
residues, and other wastes.
Postconsumer materials are items which
have parsed throug> their end-usage as"
a consumer item and would include old
newspapers, magazines, used
corrugated containers, and office waste
paper. The Hazardous and Solid Waste
Amendments of 1984, amended Section
6002 to require that, in the case of paper,
the guideline would maximize the use-of
postconsumer recovered material. '
• .The second-category of recovered -
pspermaterials under RGRA-^-
manufacturing, forest residues, and •
•-;other -wastes—are preconsumer wastes: -
-These would include manufacturing
wastes like paper and paperboard - - •
waste, bag, box and carton waste,' '
printed paper which has never reached
the consumer, and obsolete inventories.
Other preconsumer waste papers
include fibrous byproducts and other
forest residues from manufacturing or
woodcutting processes. Additional
examples of this type of waste paper are
those generated by the conversion of
goods made from fibrous materials such
as waste rope from cordage manufacture
and textile mill waste and cuttings used
in production of cotton fiber papers.
Preconsumer waste paper use is
already at a high level. Increasing the
demand for paper products containing
recovered materials therefore requires
that postconsumer waste paper be used.
While the use of postconsumer
recovered materials is emphasized in
RCRA Section 6002, it is also beneficial
,
to increase the usage of preconsumer
waste-materials in paper and paper
products. Thus, for example, as demand
increases for a wider range of paper and
paper products, manufacturers of
products that are currently made with
preconsumer materials will have to use
larger quantities of postconsumer
recovered materials to meet their raw
materials (i.e., recovered paper) supply
needs.
For purposes of the paper and paper
products guideline. EPA distinguishes
between recovered materials,
postconsumer recovered materials, and
waste paper. As is explained in more
detail below, the term "recovered
materials" is comprehensive and. as in
the statute, refers to the complete
universe of recovered paper products.
The term "postconsumer recovered
material" similarly is used as defined in
RCRflu The term "waste paper," used in
connection with printing/writing papers,
refers to ail postconsumer recovered
materials as well as to preconsumer
waste paper from some sources. It does
not include fibrous byproducts from
forestry, waste generatedJjy the
conversion of goods made from fibrous
material and fibers recovered from
waste water that would otherwise enter
the waste stream.
D,. Performance
The performance of printing/writing
papers and fiber boxes containing
recovered materials is often questioned.
: As noted in the proposed'amendments
(52 PR 373(37), comments received by
EPA suggested that few manufacturers
of printing/writHig paper would.be able
to meet a minimum*content standard for,
postconsumer recovered material As a
result. EPA. reviewed information about
- Jheiechnicalperfbrmanee of these -
products, ..' . . .
i. Printing/Writing Papers.
Performance testing of paper
containing recovered material is a •
continuing activity of paper
manufacturers. In some instances, the
evaluation of the reports of these
organizations was complicated by the
fact that the recovered materials used
were not precisely identified as either.
postconsumer recovered materials or
waste paper. The reports of these
organizations indicate, however, that
acceptable performance is possible in
most grades of paper and paper
products made from recovered
materials. The use of preconsumer
waste paper is common in printing and
writing papers, although the use of
postconsumer recovered materials is
limited.
A common fear is thatjjaper
containing postconsumer recovered
materials causes difficulty in printing
and high-speed copier machines. EPA
has reviewed documentation from state
printing agencies and private sector
printers and has found that this, is a
common reaction by pressmen. In many
states, printers have refused to use
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Federal gagistsar / Voi 5% Pto. 1&E / Wednesday, June 22.. 136fr / Rates and Regulations,
paper made from recavered material*.
However; several states have had many
yean of experience in printing with audv
paper, after having first overeom*
adverse reactions by pressnteK These
states report that while then tesom* -
difficulty in using printing paper- -
containing postconsumsr recovered'•'
materials, it is no more than with other
economy grade* of printing paper.
Therefore, procuring agencies and
agencies that revise and write
specifications should carefully identify
the performance expected of the product
so that acceptance or rejection is based
on verifiable tests rather than
preconceived perceptions.
EPA has obtained results of
laboratory tests for both virgin paper
and paper made from recovered +
materials.1 These testresults provide •
additional verification that paper made
from recovered materials can-and does-
meet the same standards as virgin paper
for many categories of printing/writing,
papers. This is especially true in the
economy, grades typically purchased to
competitive bids by public agencies,
2. Fiber Boxes • •".
The primary standards for Unerboard.
(the facing material of cormgmted
containers) and fiber boxes are set by
the Uniform Freight Regulations and are
measures of basic weight and mnllen
(burst strength). These standards are
currently under review. The
contemplated changes would replace the
mullen test with a "crush" test that
would enable Unerboard manufacturers
to use a percentage, of postconsumer
recovered materials. (In fact there are a
few mills including one or more new
mills that produce Unerboard made of
100 percent postconsumer waste paper.)
Federal pirocuremenfof kraft Hnerbbard
containing postconsumcr recovered
materials is practicable because it is
now produced by a number of
manufacturers. In addition about one-
quarter of the corrugating medium used
to produce boxes is "recycled medium"
and contains essentially ait
postconsumer recovered materials^
E. Major Federal Purchaser*
The major Federal purchasers of"
paper, and, therefore, the agencies most
likely to be affected by this guideline are
the Government Printing Office (GPO).:
which operates under the direction of
the Congressioiial Joint Committee on
Printing {JCP): the General Services
Administration (GSA): and the
Department of: Defense (COO). On
advice of its Committee pa Paper
1 See dockirt maMria!! dated October 9,198S for •
description of these tesia.
Specifications, which includes
representatives from GPO, JCP adopt* .
specifications and standards for printing
and wetting grades of paper. GSA
adopts specifications for all other paper
and paper products. DOD further
reviews these standards and drafts
additional specifications, as necessary.
to establish military standards for some
of the items it procures.
IV. Discussion of guideline
This section of the preambht
summarizes and explains the basis for
each section of the revised final
guideline and responds to comments
received on the proposed amendments
to the October 1967 final guideline.
Section V discusses recommendations
as to price, competition, availability,
and performance, while. Section VI.
discusses implementation of the revised,
guideline. . . .
As used in this and following sections.
of the preamble, the term, "recovered
materials" refers to postconsumer
recovered materials in the case of most:
types and grades of paper and paper-
products, to waste paper in the case of
the printing/writing grades, and to
recovered materials in the case .of-cottom
fiber papec. .. - < . . •
A. Purpose and Scops
The purpose of this revised guideline
Is to recommend additional procedures-.
for complying with Section 6002. .
This guideline appUes to the
procurement of paper and paper .
products containing recovered
materials. Included are all paper and
paperboard categories except building
and construction paper grades. The
Agency is including as many items as-
possible within the scope of the
guideline to encourage the paper
industry to increase and to improve the
production of paper and paper products
containing recovered materials.
The final guideline included an
illustrative, but not inclusive, list of •
major paper and paperboard purchase
categories falling within the scope of the
guideline. It is as follows:
• 'High Grade Bleached Papers.
Printing and writing papers, including
mcmeo and duplicator papers
Mailing envelopes
Memo pads
Form bond and manifold business
forms
Computer paper
Xerographic/copy paper
« Newsprint
• Tissue Products
Sanitary products, e.g., toilet tissue,'
paper towels, facial tissue, paper
napkins
Industrial wipers
• Unble«ched*Paper and Paperboard
• Coarse piiper*
• Linerfaoardand corrugating medium
• CorrugaUtd boxes
• Fiber sheists and boxes
fa making its decision regarding the
scope of thi» guideline, the Agency
considered suggestions from the
Government Printing. Office and
representatives of the printing industry
to the effect: that performance standards
for certain jjrades of printing and writing
paper can currently be met only by
virgin paper. It was suggested that EPA
exclude these papers on an item-by-item
basis. It was also suggested that certain
items that must meet stringent standards
on noncontamination. such as surgical
masks and items coming in contact with
wet or oily foods, should he individually
identified for exclusion.
RCRA Section 6002(d)(2). requires the
use "of rectrvered materials to the
maximum extent possible without
jeopardizing the intended use of the
ite,m". This statutory provision ...
effectively allows procuring agencies to
• exclude uso of recovered materials from
specifications, when performance
standards lor an item cannot be met if
recovered materials are included in the
content. Although commenters stated
that EPA should exclude items, they did
not indicate why this statutory provision
is inadequate to accommodate the
concerns olf agencies that draft and
review speiEifications. A determination
to exclude a specific item from a
recovered materials content requirement
may be made by the agency in drafting
and reviewing specifications based on
standards related to performance. EPA
suggests a procedure for establishing
such an exclusion in § 250.13 of this
guideline. It is further suggested that
performance tests be cited and that test
results be included in records for the :
annual review process and in any
reporting on the effectiveness of the
affirmative procurement program.
EPA decided not to include building
and construction grades of paper based
on several considerations. In reviewing
the variety of paper and paper products
that are or may be manufactured with a
percentage: of recovered materials, it
became apparent that building and
construction grades constitute a
significant and distinct industry _
unrelated to the manufacturing of
virtually all odier grades of paper and
paperboard. The manufacturing,
marketing, standards, and testing
mechanisms for building and
construction grades are different from
those for cither grades of paper. Any
evaluation, of the feasibility a»
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23550 Federal Regbter.../ Vol. 53, No. 120 / Wednesday. June 22. 1988 / Rules and Regulations
potential effectiveness of a Federal •
procurement program for these grades
would require extensive additional
information: in addition, different
procurement offices and procedures are
involved in the procurement of
construction categories. For these
reasons. EPA believes that it would be
inert appropriate to consider building
'and construction grades'of paper in a .
separate context. Toward this end. EPA
studied the feasibility of and is
preparing a procurement guideline for
building insulation products made from
recovered materials including paper.
B. Applicability
Many of the requirements of Section
. 6002 apply to "procuring agencies."
which is defined in RCRA Section
1004(17) as "any Federal agency, or any
State agency or agency of a political
subdivision of a State which is using
appropriated Federal funds for such
procurement, or any person contracting
with any such agency with respect to
work performed under such contract."
Under Section 8002(a). the procurement
requirements apply to any purchase by a
procuring agency costing $10,000 or
more or when the procuring agency
purchased $10,000 worth of the item or '
of a functionally equivalent item during
the preceding fiscal year. EPA believes
that its interpretation ofthis
requirement which is described in more
•detail below, will provide an effective
program without imposing an
unreasonable bookkeeping burden on
the purchasers and users of paper and
paper products.
1. Procuring Agencies
EPA made two changes to 5 250.3 of.
the final guideline to clarify the
circumstances in which Section 6002 of
. RCRA applies to procuring agencies.
First, the statutory definition identifies
three types of procuring agencies:.(1)
Federal agencies, (2) State or local
agencies using appropriated Federal
funds, and (3) contractors. Federal
agencies should note that under this .
definition, the requirements of Section
6002 apply to them whether or not
appropriated Federal funds are used for
procurement of items designated by
EPA. Section 250.3 has been revised to
clarify this issue.
In addition. § 250.3 has been revised
to clarify that the requirements of.
Section 6002 apply to each Federal
agency as a whole. This point is
particularly important in determining
whether the $10.000 threshold has been
reached. For example, the General
Services Administration, as a.whole, -
purchases more than $10.000 worth of
paper and paper products during each
fiscal year. Therefore; the requirements
• of Section 6002 will apply to all GSA
procurements of paper and paper
products, including procurements by
individual regions and subagencies.
2. Direct Purchases
For the purpose of this guideline'.
purchases made as a result of a
solicitation by a procuring agency for its
own general use or that of other
agencies (for example, GSA purchases)
are considered "direct" EPA believes
that a contract for printing is. in part/a
paper procurement action because the
type of paper to be used is explicitly
1 stated in the contract. (Labor and
overhead expenses involved in printing
would be considered a service.)
Therefore, a Federal agency that
provides printing services to other
governmental agencies would be subject
to this guideline. The guideline leaves
the method of calculating the value of
paper used in performing a printing
'contract to the discretion of the agency
awarding that contract. This provides a
wide latitude. GPO has stated that the
value of the paper may be as low as 20
percent or as high as 80 percent of the
contract The value allocated to the
paper.used in the performance of the
printing contract would determine the
applicability of the.guideline; if that
value is $10,000 or more, the.guideline
would apply.
3. Indirect Purchases
EPA revised § 250.3(c)(2) (now
§ 250.3(d)(2)) to clarify and conform it to
Federal grants and contract law. EPA
has removed the clause excluding
indirect purchases with funds which are
not separately accounted for under
block grants.
The definition of "procuring agency"
in RCRA Section 1004(17) .makes it clear
that the requirements of Section 6002
apply to "indirect purchases," i.e.,
purchases by a State or local agency or
its contractors using appropriated
Federal funds. Thus, the guideline
applies to paper and paper products
purchases meeting the SlO.OOO threshold
made by States and their localities or
their contractors, subcontractors,
grantees, or other persons which are
funded by grants, loans, or other forms
of disbursements of monies from Federal
agencies. However, the guideline does
not apply to such purchases if they are
unrelated to or incidental to the Federal
funding, i.e.. not the directresult 0! the
grant loan, or funds disbursement. An
example, of a paper purchase unrelated
orrincidental to'Federal funding is where
a contractor.purchases paper under a
grant for construction of a public.works
project The paper purchase would not
be subject to the requirements in Section
6002 or this guideline, even though some
of the grant funds supporting the
contract might be used to finance the
purchases.
4. The $10.000 Threshold
RCRA Section 6002(a) provides that
the requirements of Section 6002 apply
(1) when the purchase price of an item
exceeds $10,000 or (2) when the quantity
of such items or of functionally
equivalent items purchased during the
preceding fiscal year was $10.000 or
more. Thus. Section 6002 clearly sets out
a two-step procedure for determining
whether the $10,000 threshold has been
reached. First a procuring agency must
determine whether it purchased $10,000
worth of paper and paper products
during the preceding fiscal year. If so.
the requirements of Section 6002 apply
to all procurements of paper and paper
products occurring in the current fiscal
year. Second, if a procuring agency did
not procure $10,000 worth of paper and
paper products during the preceding
fiscal year, it is not subject to Section
6002 unless it makes a $10,000 purchase
during the current fiscal year. The '
requirements of Section 6002 apply to
the $10,000 purchase: to all subsequent
purchases of paper and paper products
made during the current fiscal year.
regardless of size; and to all
procurements of paper and paper
products made in the following fiscal
year.
Note that Section 6002(a) does not
provide that the procurement
requirements are triggered when the
quantity of items purchased during the
current fiscal year is $10,000 or more.
EPA does not believe that Congress
intended to require procuring agencies
to keep a running tally of procurements
of items designated by EPA. Maintaining
such a running tally would be very
. burdensome. Rather, procuring agencies
only need to compute their total
procurements once at the end of the
fiscal year and only if they intend to
claim an exemption from the
requirements of Section 6002 in the
following fiscal year.
5. Functionally Equivalent Items.
Under RCRA Section 6002(a), the
procurement requirements of Section
6002 apply when purchases during the
preceding fiscal year of a "procurement
item" or "functionally equivalent"
procurement items cost $10,000 or more.
In common usage, terms such as "paper"
and "boxes" include many items
manufactured to meet different
performance standards. They may not.
therefore, technically be "functionally
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Federal Register / Vol. 53, No. 120 /Wednesday-. }une 22;. 1988 / Rglea and Regulations 23551
equivalent." (For instance, offset
printing paper should not be used for
high-speed office copier*;} The
variations in grade and types of paper
products are numerous. The }CP has
specifications for over 50 grades of.all
types of paper, 23 for printing alone,
while GSA estimates that it provides
specifications for about 300 paper
products. Because few procuring
• agencies, as defined in the Act. purchase
$10,000 worth of any one grade of paper
or any one paper product, EPA believes
that restricting the applicability of
Section 6002 to purchases based-on a
narrow, technical definition of
functional equivalency would limit the
effectiveness of the guideline in meeting
the objectives of RCRA.
The Agency has concluded that, in the
case of paper and paper products,
"functionally equivalent" items should
be defined as a category of items having
the same or substantially similar end
use. EPA has developed a categorization
of functionally equivalent items based
on this concept of similar end use. For
procuring agencies purchasing many
grades, the categorization will extend
the applicability of the guideline beyond
a technically defined "functional
equivalency" so that a greater number
of procurement actions are affected.
Under § 250.3 of the guideline, each of
the following groups of items are
"functionally equivalent":
—All grades and types of xerographic/
copy papen
—Newsprint;
—All grades and types of printing and
writing papen
—Corrugated boxes and fiberboard
boxes;
—Folding boxboard and cartons;
—Stationery, office papers (memo pads.
scratch pads), envelopes, and
manifold business forms including
computer paper;
—Toilet tissue, paper towels, facial
tissue, paper napkins, doilies, and
industrial wipers;
—Brown papers and coarse'papers.
C. Requirements vs. Recommendations
RCRA Section 6002 requires procuring
agencies and contracting officers to
perform certain activities, such as
revising specifications for procurement
items. It also requires EPA to prepare
"guidelines for the use of procuring
agencies in complying with" Section
8002. EPA has incorporated the Section'
6002 requirements into the guideline for
the benefit of procuring agencies. As a
result, the guideline contains two types
of provisions: requirements (mandated
by Congress in Section 6002) and
recommendations (EPA's guidance for
complying with the requirements of
Section 6002),. As used in this guideline,
the verbs "shall" and "must" indicate
Section 6002 requirements, while verbs-
such as "recommend," "should," and
"suggest" indicate recommendations for
complying with those requirements.
Procuring agencies must comply with
the requirements of Section 6002, .
whereas EPA's recommendations are
only advisory in nature. Procuring
agencies may choose to use other
approaches which satisfy the Section
6002 requirements. EPA believes,
however, that if a procuring agency
chooses to follow EPA's
recommendations, that agency will be in
compliance with the Section 6002
requirements.
D. Organization of the Revised
Guideline
Subpart C of 40 CFR Part 250, which
contains EPA's recommendations for
implementing the affirmative
procurement program requirements of
RCRA Section 6002, has been
reorganized, as well as revised, for ease
of use. The revised subpart contains a
separate section for each element of the
affirmative procurement program.
E. Definitions
Most of the definitions in this
guideline are the same definitions used
in RCRA and therefore do not require
further explanation. Other definitions,
such as "paper," incorporate standard
industry definitions. A few definitions
are further discussed in this .section of
the preamble.
1. "Paperboard".
One common term used by the
industry is "paperboard." This term is
used to describe thick paper used in the
manufacture of products such as tablet
backs, folding boxes, and corrugated
boxes. Paperboard is similar in
composition and form to paper, but
generally refers to sheet that is 0.012
inch thick or thicker. Thus, the term
"paper," which is used in the Act, is
construed to include paperboard and
paperboard products.
'2. "Practicable".
Section 6002 requires procuring
agencies to procure items composed of
the highest percentage of recovered
materials practicable and to develop-
programs to assure that recovered
materials are purchased to the
maximum extent practicable (emphasis
added). Commenters asked EPA to
define the term "practicable" as used in
Section 6002. In response. EPA added a
definition of "practicable" in the final
paper guideline. 52 FR 37297 (October 6.
1987).
EPA's definition of "practicable"
combines! the dictionary definition with
certain Statutory criteria for determining
practicability. The dictionary definition
of practicable is "capable of being
used," and EPA believes that Congress
intended the term to be defined in this .
way. Congress also provided four
criteria for determining the maximum
amount practicable: (1) Performance in
accordance with applicable
specifications; (2) availability at a
reasonable price; (3) availability within
a reasonable period of time; and (4)
maintenance of a satisfactory level of
competition. EPA's definition .of
"practicable" incorporates these criteria.
3. "Waste Paper". . , .
This category includes all
postconsumer recovered materials as
defined in RCRA Section 6002(h)(l), plus
the two preconsumer categories of •'•
"manufacturing, forest residues, and
other wastes" as defined in Section
6002(h)(2). EPA has determined that mill
broke is specifically excluded from the-
definition of recovered materials
because it is waste generated before
completion of the papermaking process.
The two non-postconsumer categories
are:
(1) Dry paper and paperboard waste
generated, after completion of the
papermaking process (that is, those
manufacturing operations up to and including
the cutting and trimming of the paper
machine reel into smaller roles or rough
sheets) including envelope cuttings, bindery
trimmings, and other paper and paperboard
waste, resulting from printing, cutting,
forming, and other converting operations;
bag, box, and carton manufacturing wastes:
and butt rblls, mill'wrappers, and rejected
unused stock; and,
(2) Finished paper and paperboard from
obsolete inventories of paper and paperboard
manufacturers, merchants, wholesalers,
dealers, pirinters. converters, or others.
4. "Mill Broke"
EPA has determined that the
definition of dry paper and paperboard
waste in "recoverable materials" .
[Section 6002(h)(2)(A)] specifically
excludes! mill broke, which is any paper
waste generated before completion of
the papermaking process. Mill broke is
commonly returned to the pulping
process and is composed of whatever
the pulp is derived from, e.g., wood pulp,
waste paper, etc. In the final guideline.
the definition of "mill broke" makes
clear that it Is excluded from the term
"recovered materials."
5. "Cotton Fiber"
Cotton fiber papers are one of thfi
oldest types of paper hianuiacturpd.
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23552 FeJMadjgegialer / Vol. S3.-No. 120 /^Wednesday, June 22. 1988 / Rules and Regulations
These papers are used for flue
stationary, ledger papers, maps,
wedding invitations, and the like, and
thus occupy-a special niche in the
printing-writing paper category. By
definition and practice of the paper
industry, cation fiber papers must .
contain at least 25 percent cellulose
fibers derived from lint cotton, cotton
linters. and cotton or linen cuttings.
Some cotton fiber content products are
made of 100 percent cellulose derived
from recovered cotton sources. Thus,
EPA has defined cotton fiber content
papers as paper that contains a
minimum of 25 percent and up to 100
percent cellulose fibers derived from lint
cotton, cotton linters, and cotton or linen
cloth'cuttings.
F. Specifications
1. General
a. Federal agencies. RCRA Section
6002(d) contains two requirements for
revising specifications for procurement
items. First. Federal agencies that have
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Federal Register / Vol. 53, No. 120 / Wednesday, June 22, 1988 / Rules and Regulations 23553
paper and sawdust and other forest
residues. For instance, the Railway
Association is currently considering a
performance test change that would
effectively allow more use of recovered
materials in fiber (corrugated) boxes. In
recent years, the process of
manufacturing newsprint with nearly
100 percent postconsumer recovered
materials has become common. In
§ 250.14 of the guideline, EPA
recommends that procuring agencies
monitor new developments and use
them to increase the use of
postconsumer and other recovered
materials.
G. Affirmative Procurement Program
Section 8002(i) of RCRA requires
procuring agencies to adopt an
affirmative procurement program to
ensure that paper and paper products
containing recovered materials are
purchased to the maximum extent
practicable. As discussed previously,
RCRA Section 6002(h) provides that
"postconsumer recovered materials" are
a specific subset of "recovered
materials." The definition of
"postconsumer recovered materials"
includes paper, paperboard, and fibrous
wastes that have passed through their
end usage as a consumer item or that
enter and are collected from, municipal
solid waste. "Recovered materials" is a
broader term, including postconsumer
recovered materials as well as such
widely-used waste as manufacturing-
wastes, forest residue, and other wastes.
Because the intent of this guideline is to
reduce the municipal solid waste
stream, the focus of this guideline is
postconsumer recovered materials.
The affirmative procurement program
must contain four elements: (1) A
recovered materials preference program;
(2) a promotion program; (3) procedures
for estimation, certification, and
verification; and (4) procedures for
annual review and monitoring of the
program's effectiveness, the following
sections explain EPA's
recommendations for each element of
the affirmative procurement program.
1. Recovered Materials Preference
Program
The first of the four requirements of
the affirmative procurement program is
a recovered materials preference
program to maximize the use of
recovered materials. The procuring
agency may implement the preference
program by employing a case-by-case
approach, by adopting minimum content
standards, or by choosing an approach
that is substantially equivalent to the
preceding approaches. In the final paper
guideline, EPA recommended use of any
of these approaches. Because of
comments submitted in response to the
original proposed paper guideline, EPA
concluded that minimum content
standards would comply with the
statutory requirements but that the other
approaches might not necessarily, 52 FR
37299 (October 8,1987). Accordingly,
EPA proposed to amend the final paper
guideline to recommend minimum
content standards as guidance to
procuring agencies, 52 FR 37335-41
{October 6,1987).
As discussed in the final paper
guideline, 52 FR 37298-37299 (October 6,
1987), Section 8002(i) also requires that
any affirmative procurement program be
consistent with applicable provisions of
Federal procurement law. From time to
time. Congress has established
preferential procurement programs in
order to attain socioeconomic goals.
Among those are the Small Business,
Labor Surplus Area, and Minority
Business procurement programs. EPA
considered applying either or both of the
mechanisms used in those programs—
price preferences and set-asides—to this
guideline. A price preference allows the
procuring.agency to pay a higher price, if
necessary, for a specified product from
preferred vendors. A set-aside requires
the procuring agency to award a certain
percentage of its contracts to preferred
vendors of a product regardless of price.
Price preferences and set-asides are
currently being used in some state •
programs for the procurement of paper
and paper products containing
recovered materials. As of January 1988,
five states and two cities use price
preference programs in which products
containing recovered materials may cost
from 5 to 10 percent more than virgin
materials. Two states have set-aside
programs, one for paper and paper
products, the other for all types of
products. These states report that they
successfully procure products containing
recovered materials.
EPA has considered- recommending
these programs at the Federal level'
However, in the case of existing Federal
preferential procurement programs that
allow a price preference or set-aside, the
Agency found that each had been
established under explicit statutory
authority or a specific Executive Order.
Neither the statutory language nor the
legislative history of Section 6002 seems-
to contemplate the adoption of either
price preferences or set-asides, and
doing so would conflict with existing
Federal procurement regulations.
a. Case-by-case approach. As
explained in the preamble to the final
paper guideline. EPA concluded thai it
would be rare that equivalent bids
would be submitted for virgin paper and
paper products and for paper and paper
products containing recovered
materials. Thus, a procuring agency
could not award the procurement to the
vendor offering the product with the
highest recovered materials content
unless it was the low bid, 52 FR 37299
(October 6.1987). EPA concluded
therefore that wide use of the case-by-
base approach or a substantially
equivalent alternative might not result in
much procurement of paper and paper
products containing recovered
materials.
After careful consideration of the
legal limitations of the case-by-case
approach (or a substantially equivalent
alternative) as well as the likely impact
of such an approach on procurement
practices, EPA has determined that
procuring agencies which elect to use
the recommended minimum content
standards will be in compliance with the
statutory requirement for a recovered
materials preference program assuring
procurement of items composed of
recovered materials to the maximum
extent practicable. Consequently, EPA is
withdrawing its recommendation of the
case-by-case approach or a
substantially equivalent alternative for
procurement of paper and paper
products. Instead, EPA recommends that
procuring agencies adopt minimum
content standards.
b. Minimum content standards. EPA
proposed minimum content standards
for 21 categories of selected paper and
paper products, 52 FR 37341 (October 6,
1987). EPA today is adopting those
standards as its recommendations with
the changes indicated below, as we', as
adding one new category, cotton fiber
papers.
For most grades of paper and paper
products, EPA.is recommending
minimum postconsumer recovered
materials content standards. In the case
of printing/writing grades, EPA is
recommending minimum "waste paper"
content standards. As explained above,
in the case of cotton fiber papers, EPA is
recommending a minimum "recovered
materials" standard. EPA also has
added definitions of "waste paper" and
"cotton fiber".
(1) Legal considerations. RCRA
Section 6002(i)(l) requires that
affirmative procurement programs be
"consistent with applicable Federal
procurement law." EPA was concerned
that minimum content standards might
violate the Competition in Contracting
Act of 1984 (CICA) (10 USC Chapter 137)
and'the Federal Acquisition Rns'jlation
(FAR) (48 CFR Ch. 1). Both provide that
specifications restricting what <.;m he
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235-a Federal Register / Vol. 53. No. 120 / Wednesday. June 22. 1968 / Rules and Regulations
olfcrcd by bidders are legally
permissible only to the extent lhat they
relict.! ihe Government's minimum
iii-cds or are authorized by law. (CICA
27n(n)(1). 48 CFR 10.002(a](3)(ii).] EPA
h i« concluded that RCRA Section 6002
jmtviru'.s Ihe necessary authorization,
SCP 52 PR 38844 (October 10.1987).
S««« tion 6002(i)(3)(B) expressly permits
Hf.onr.ies to establish specifications
v.hich restrict bids to those which meet
u rp.inimum content standard. Therefore,
minimum content standards are not in
violation of general Federal procurement
l.iw
CICA requires agencies to use full and
open competitive procedures when
procuring property and services. The
terra "full and open competition" means
111.it all responsible sources must be
pc: muted to submit a bid. In the case of
ii procurement against a restrictive
t-pocificulion. such as a minimum
content standard, "full and open
competition" means that all responsible
sources who can meet the specification
can bid. The preference program
recommendation in the revised final
guideline is consistent with this
requirement, since any vendor of paper
find paper products can submit a bid as
lonp as the product offered contains the
minimum recovered content.
(2} Methods for establishing minimum
commit standards. RCRA provides four
criteria for establishing a minimum
content standard. Section 6002(i){3J(B)
provides lhat the minimum content
required by a specification must be Ihe
maximum available without
juupurdizing the intended end use of the
item or violating the limitations of
Section 6002{c)(l)(AHC). Thus, the four
criteria are (1) the intended end use of
Ihe ilem. (2) availability. (3) technical
performance, and (4) price.
Under the minimum content standards
approach, procuring agencies establish
specific recovered materials percentages
in their specifications. Today EPA is
recommending specific standards for
procuring agencies to use. Procuring
agencies may adopt other standards as
long .'is the statutory requirements are
me'.,
(;t) Basis of recommended minimum
content standards. Beginning in 1971. the
U.S. General Services Administration
(GSA) established minimum content
standards for several types of paper and
piiper products. The GSA specifications
established minimum levels for
"reclaimed material" content and for
"poatconaumer waste" content which
was a sub-set of "reclaimed material."
In other words, a two-tiered approach
was t»ed.The "reclaimed material" and
"pof (consumer watte" categories
correspond to the terms "recovered
materials" and "postconsumer
recovered materials," respectively, as
used in this guideline.
EPA received comments on its earlier
proposed paper guideline that very few
manufacturers of printing/writing
papers would be willing or able to meet
a minimum content standard for
postconsumer recovered materials, 52
FR 37297 (October 6,1987). Thus an
alternative was sought for this category.
The source of recovered materials that
are commonly used in printing/writing
papers differs from the source of
recovered materials used in other
grades. Pulp substitute is a
manufacturing waste, virtually all of
which is derived from businesses that
convert paper stock into finished
products such as books or envelopes.
Pulp -substitute, as the name suggests.
can be used instead of virgin pulp. The
quantity of postconsumer recovered
materials in pulp substitute is
essentially zero. "High grade deinking"
is printing scrap, which can include
items such as misprinted forms that
never reach the ultimate user. The high
grade drinking category also includes a
significant amount of poslconsumer
recovered materials, such as officer
waste paper. However, the paper mill
does not always know whether the
material is preconsumer or
postconsumer because both types of
material may be contained in the same
bales. Tissue products use most-of the,
postconsumer recovered materials
consumed in the high grade deinking
category while printing/writing paper
producers use much less: many
manufacturers of printing/writing
papers avoid postconsumer recovered
materials altogether. In other words,
manufacturers of printing/writing
papers tend to use preconsumer waste
paper {manyfcicturing by-products such
as pulp substitutes), whereas
manufacturers of tissue papers do use
postconsumer waste. Tissue products do
not have to meet the demands that
printing and writing papers do. The
contrast between the strength and color
requirements for institutional paper
towels and offset paper running through
a High-speed press illustrates this
difference.
EPA contacted virtually every mill
known to make printing/writing papers
using recovered materials. Almost
universally they stated that they
preferred not to deal with postconsumer
recovered materials under a minimum
content standard. Some of the reasons
cited were:
• Postconsnmer recovered materials
are not as predictable in fiber
composition wr content «s other types, so
it is difficult to assure that specifications
can be met.
• A mill essentially needs deinking
capability to use postconsumer
recovered materials (whereas pulp
substitutes are not normally cleaned in
deinking systems).
• Contaminants cannot be controlled
as well, and "off spec" products are
much more likely to be produced using
postconsumer recovered materials.
• Only a few mills handle
postconsumer recovered materials
successfully enough to overcome these
problems consistently.
For these reasons, EPA found that it is
not advisable to recommend minimum
postconsumer recovered materials
content standards for printing/ writing
grades. EPA is, therefore, recommending
a category of recovered materials called
"waste paper" for the printing and
writing paper grades only.
EPA has concluded that increasing the
use of waste paper in the manufacturing
of printing and writing papers will in
fact allow maximum use of
postconsumer recovered materials in
those products while it increases the use
of postconsumer recovered materials in
others, thereby satisfying the intent of
RCRA. As more preconsumer waste
paper is used for printing and writing
papers, there will be less available as a
raw material for other products. As a
result, manufacturers will have to use
more postconsumer recovered materials
as a raw material Therefore, for printing
and writing papers. EPA is
recommending a minimum waste paper
content
A document entitled Background
Documentation for Minimum Content
Standards has been placed in the docket
and explains the basis for EPA's
recommended minimum content
standards. It identifies mills producing
newsprint or printing/writing papers
with postconsumer or waste paper
recovered content, respectively, at the
time of the preparation of the document.
The percentages of both types of
recovered materials content in product
also have been identified.
Several commenters recommended
that EPA adopt the original GSA
standards as minimum content
standards. EPA used these standards as
a reasonable starting place for
establishing recommended minimum
content standards. However, because of
the successful experience by several
States in procuring printing and writing
paper with recovered materials, EPA
proposed a minimum of 50 percent
waste paper content.
Commenters from the papsr industry
objected to the-proposed mrnimuim
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Federal Register / VoL S3. No. 120 / Wednesday. June 22. 1988 / Rules and Regulations 23S55
content standards for printing and
writing paper on the basis that the£ are
too high to be practical and that
procuring agencies will be unable to
obtain adequate competition for all
grades at a minimum content of 50
percent Waste paper. Procuring agencies
supported the minimum content
standard proposed, but some stated that
they have difficulty in purchase of
printing/writing papers in some
Instances. None of the commenters
objecting to the proposed minimum
content standards provided data
supporting their position, nor did any
other commenter provide data from
which EPA could conclude that the
objections were correct. There might be
short-term availability problems for
particular types or grades of paper and
paper products, but EPA was unable to
determine whether and at what levels
unavailability problems would occur.
Therefore, although EPA considered
these comments, the Agency concluded
that there was no basis on which to
reduce the recommended minimum
content. The revised final guideline
issued today recommends the 50 percent
minimum content standard.
EPA notes that procuring agencies are
not required to buy paper and paper
products if the procuring agency
determines that ihe product is not
reasonably available, there is
unsatisfactory competition, or the
product is only available at an
unreasonable price. These issues are
discussed further in Section V of the
preamble.
In two categories, EPA proposed no
minimum content standards because it
believed that there was not sufficient
production of these papers with
recovered material content to assure a
satisfactory level of competition; they
are high-speed copier paper and form
bond. inc!u".ing computer paper and
carboriifl.ss. EPA has determined, in the
minimum content standards adopted
here today, not to recommend standards
for these categories for the reasons
previously indicated. Nonetheless, these
categories of paper are subject to the
requirements of Section 6002. Procuring
agencies must promote their preferernce
program for these items. As these items
become available at a reasonable price
with satisfactory competition, procuring
agencies should establish minimum
content standards for them. In addition,
as the economic situation changes. EPA
will consider revising this guideline to
recommend minimum content standards
for these items.
Manufacturers of corrugated boxes
objected to the proposed minimum
content standard of 40 percent as being
too high. They provided an explanation
and rationale for their position, but did
not provide an alternative minimum
content standard. After a closer
examination of the industry structure
and practices and historical data, EPA
concurs and has reduced thia category ,
to 35 percent postconsumer recovered
materials. A more detailed basis for this
change can ba found in the docket for
this rulemaking. However,-EPA notes
that the 35 percent minimum content
standard will still require that
corrugated boxes contain both recycled
corrugating medium and linerboard with
postconsumer recovered materials to
assure that the minimum content
standard is met. Alternately, this
standard could be met with only 100
percent recycled linerboard as well. A
fuller explanation and analysis has been
placed in the docket for this rulemaking.
At the same time. EPA reviewed the
proposed minimum content standard for
solid fiber boxes and determined that it
should be raised from 5 percent to 35
percent. The basis for this change is that
the medium or filler between the two
liners is made of chipboard, which is a
recycled paperboard. and thus consists
of postconsumer recovered materials.
EPA notes that this product has largely
- disappeared from commercial use, but is
still produced in small quantities.
A commenter noted that there should
be a minimum content standard for
cotton fiber content papers because this
grade contains recovered materials as
defined by RCRA Section 6002. EPA
concurs and has added both a definition
and a minimum content standard of 25
percent recovered materials.2 This
product category, also commonly known
as "rag paper," must contain cotton
fibers to qualify by definition as that
product. This type of recovered material
does not fall under the postconsumer or
waste paper definitions. Rather, it falls •
undeir the recovered materials definition
under Section 6002(h)(2)(D}:
manufacturing, fores! residues, and other
wastes such as ... (0) wastes generated by
the conversion of goods made-from fibrous
material {e.g., rope waste from cordage
manufacture, textile mill wastes, and
cuttings).
It has been suggested to EPA that a
minimum waste paper content standard
should be established for cotton fiber
content papers. EPA notes that such a
standard might be confusing because the
commercial definition of cotton fiber
content paper refers to its cotton
celhiilosic content only. In addition, to
the Ixist of EPA's knowledge, use of
waste paper in the production of cotton
fiber content paper seems to be
incidental at best. For these reasons,
EPA did not adopt a waste paper
content standard for cotton fiber paper.
EPA's recommended minimum
content standards are shown in Table t.
Note that EPA has added a column to
Tabte 1 to address recovered materials
content in cotton fiber content papers.
1 The commenter suggested a minimum content
standard of 25 percent recovered materials for EPA
to recommend. After researching industry praclices.
EPA concluded that a 25 percent standard is
reasonable. Data documenting this concision has
been placed in the docket for this ruipmaking.
TABLE 1.—EPA Recommended Minimum Content Standards of Selected Papers and Paper Products
. . . _
.
•
'
Newspnnt •• - - - - -
High grade bleached printing and writing oapers:
Book papers .7. .' ....7. • — •.— - —
Wirimum
percentage
materials
—
—
Minimum
percentage
of
postcon-
sumer
reccveied
materials
. .. -^
• 40
—
_
_
—
percentage
Of W3S&3
paper *
^
50
50
SO
2
50
•
50
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23556 ......... Federal Regjrter ....... / .......... Vol. ......... 53. No. 120 / 'Wednesday. June 22.1988 /.Rules and . Regulations „ •
TABLE 1.— EPA Recommended Minimum Content Standards of Selected Papers and Paper Products—Continued
- --
Bond papers. .. _„ _
Ledger
CoVef 8tOClL__ _.._.. .. " "
Conon fiber papers „ •
TIMOO products '
Toilet teuue »™™_..___™...
Piper towtis • ,
Papa» naptifi?.,;.... ,... M11 , ""
Facial tiaiii»Mrlll,,n,.,,.,,,,,,,-....'. '..'. :, ....-, - • ' •
DOM**,.,, T ,...,.„„.„„ .,;.„.,. , , •
lndu«rl«l ttlptre „ , . • •
UnWeacfted packaging: . - . .',... ".'
Corrugated lx>xti —....-.,.., ,,' ', . ..7........!..'. . , ••-•••,.
RharhOMfl., .,,.„ .; :....r... ,,....,,, > - ' " ' •• •-
Brawn p*fxv» {^,g , bejs).,.,.., .'.r..'..-..^... .' ,';,.„, '
RecyoJsd piptrbotnt" ~ • ^ .,
ReeycJad ptperbotrrj proriudi InckKSng folding cartorcC...:_: — _ '
Pad ha^tinj I,- u, ...___. '_ ' ' „ ' '~7I_ -•>'••
Minimum
percentage
of
recovered
materials
— "
25
"""
—
~~
—
""**
__
—
Minimum
percentage
of
postcon-
aumer
recovered
materials
~-
. . ~
—
•
40
30
40
0
35
35
• 5
60
. 90
Minimum
percentage
of waste
paper'
. 50
50
50
—
—
—
• —
—
, ' "" ~°
—
—
—
--—— ™ r *•* « -— *•«••»*»»• HI wwv%n> K.W>-T VHIW > wiviw «* vfwiirvu |rvevu%nxnjnirwj «RIU WU n3H (WATVO1W HlOWII
* EPA round irwrfficwnt production of thesa papers wtthrecycted content to assure adequate competition.
Finally, EPA has concluded that while
in theory, higher minimum content
standards could be established, in
actuality, such higher standards could ';
result in no procurement due to lack of -,
satisfactory competition, unreasonable '
prices, or unreasonahla availability. ', •'
Therefore, the recommended minimum ~ •
content standards were sat at levels at '-
which EPA felt there was a reasonable •' •
assurance of adequate procurement.' '
(4) Archival papers. Organizations .
involved in book and document •- -.
preservation expressed concern about •
EPA's proposed minimum content .. "
standards. Although they were generally
In favor of using recycled paper
products, they felt its use for books,
government publications, and
documents scheduled for permanent
retention should not be allowed. Some *
cited ah ANSI standard issued in 1984
that deals with an alkaline paper to
slow deterioration of paper. Several,
enclosed a rationale on the subject and
the ANSI Z39.48-1S84 standard EPA
was asked to set up a category to.
promote the use of alkaline paper for all
books, publications, and documents of
enduring interest, or at the least to set
up « separate category, and to reduce or
• delete minimum percentages of waste
paper for all the printing/writing papers
except envelopes.
After researching this Issue, Ef>A has
determined that both virgin papers and
recycled papers can be acidic or
alkaline, depending on the
manufacturing process used. While it is
tnia that the deinklng and bleaching
processes used to make paper '
containing1 recovered materials are
acidic, EPA .has determined that there
are manufacturers of recycled paper that
produce archival papers. Evidence has
been submitted to EPA and added to the
docket for this rulemaking that there are
'at lefast seven, companies manufacturing .
"
", twoaro . .:.
..manufatiturers *>f paper containing ;
•- : EPA notes that those concerned over
'• the permanence of paper should refer to
§ 250.13 of the guideline, "Exclusion of
• products containing recovered materials
• that do1 not meet reasonable
performance standards." If a procuring
agency determines that papers
containing postconsumer recovered
materials do not meet reasonable
performance standards for archival
papers, then the agency can add an
exclusion of these papers to its .
specifications; the agency must
document the basis for this exclusion. .
however.- Further, EPA encourages the
development of technical performance
specifications by the user agencies, e.g..
GPO, GSA, JCP, that require
permanence as long as they do not
specifically exclude the use of recycled
paper. - -
'2. Promotion Program •'
The second requirement of.the
affirmative procurement program is an
effort by procuring agencies to promote
procurement .of paper and paper
products containing recovered
materials. EPA recommends several
methods for.procuring agencies to
consider for disseminating information •
about their preference program, such as
placing notations in solicitations for bids
and conducting discussions about the
program at bidders' conferences and '
meetings. EPA also recommends that
agencies such as GSA that procure
paper and paper products for use by
.other agencies consider noting in their
catalogs those^papers or paper products
•that contain recovered materials. .
A commenter on the proposed
lubricating oils procurement guideline
recommended use of journals to promote
the preference program. EPA is -
recommending in the final lubricating
oils guideline that agencies issue press
releases to recycling industry journals.
This recommendation is also relevant to
promotion of the paper and paper
products preference program and is
being added to § 250.22 today.
3. Estimation, Certification, and
Verification
The third requirement of the
affirmative procurement program set
forth in Section 6002(i) concerns
estimates, certification, and verification
of recovered material content in
procurements. Estimates and
certifications of content in an item are
most easily expressed as a percentage
of total content and can range from 0
percent to 100 percent depending on the
type of product or the feedstocks used in
manufacturing the item. Many issues
have been raised about these
requirements, such as when the
information should be provided, who is
to provide it how it is to be obtained.
and how it is to be verified. To clarify
-------
Federal Reflate^/ Vofc 53. Mg.
Wednesday frae
Regufetiqay: 2355F
this subject it is necessary to review ther
requirements of the statute
a. Estimation. RCRA Section
6002(c)(3MB) and Section eaOZtipHC)
require taat, after the effective date of a
guideline, contracting afBews>must
require vendors, who supply Federal
procuring agencies with products
covered by the guideline to provide an
estimate of the total percentage of the
•recovered materials utilized in the
performance of the contract.
EPA believes that this requirement is
for the purpose of gathering statistical
information on price, quantity.
availability, and performance of
products made from recovered
materials. EPA further believes that this
requirement applies regardless of
whether the procurement solicitation
specifies that recovered materials can or
must be used. Estimates may differ from
the minimum recovered materials
content specified in certifications, the
estimates will provide up-to-date
information for the annual review which
is required of procuring agencies.
EPA has decided to .recommend a
limitfop retaining these estimates, fa .
other praeuzemeBt guidelines,: EPA has
recommended that.thesstnnatea be
retanjed.for three, years. Therefore, in :
the revised final guideline, today, EPA is
recommending that procuring agencies
retain these data for three years fey type
of prothict. quantity purchased, and.
price paid.
b. Certification. The uae of
certifications is common in government
procurement. A certification is written
assurance that goods or services
delivered will fulfil! the contractual
requirements. Failure to meet conditions
which have bee» certified can result in "
penalties to a vendor. RCRA Section
6002(c)(3)(A) requires that after the
effective date of this guideline, vendors
must "certify that the percentage of
postconsumer recovered materials to be '
used in the performance of the contract
will be at least the amount required by
applicable specification! or other-
contractual requirements;.'" IB other
words, vendors must certify that a .
minimum percentage of recovered
material wiil be contained in products to •
be supplied. RCRA Section 6002(i}{2){C}
requires "certification of minimum post-
consumer recovered material content
actually utilized. . .".
Together, these sections could be
interpreted- to mean that multiple .
certifications will be required: one when
bids are offered, and another with each
shipment EPA is concerned that this
interpretation could create unnecessary
burdens for vendors and procuring
agencies, and thus work against the •
intent of Section 6002. States which
purchase-paper and-paper products witk
recovered material content have found
one certification sufficient As an
example. New York State requires
certification of the-content from vendors
within six days of a bid opening. -
Vendors commonly discuss product
specifications and availability with
manufacturers prior to submitting a bid.
so information for certification can be
obtained at that time. A vendor can • .
easily certify to a minimum of 0 percent
if it does not wish post-consumer
recovered, material (and in the case of
printing/writing paper, waste paper)
content to be a factor in its bids. The
certification then becomes part of the
contract awarded to the successful
vendor. EPA has concluded that one
certification will fulfill both statutory
requirements and. by using it in all
instances, procuring agencies can adapt..
their purchasing programs most easily.
In the final guideline, 52 FR 37300
(October's,1937J, EPA recomnrended
that procuring agencies require
certifications as a condition of.a
responsive bid when bids are offered. * -
Also, as previously indicated, the1
successful vendor must estimate, the
actual recovered materials content in
products that are supplied The estimate •-
may or may not bedifferent than the
minimum percentage that is certified.
EPA understands that fo? both
estimation and certification; the vendor
will not have direct knowledge of
recovered materials content Only the
mill that produces the paper will have
that information. However, there is no
direct authority in RGRA Section 60QZ
for the Federal government to require - -
this information from anyone but the
vendor. Therefore, the vendor must
make its own arrangements for
obtaining this Information from the mill
operator. The legislative history
suggests the approach intended, as
shown by the following excerpt from the
Conference Committee Report on the
Hazardous and Solid Waste '
Amendments of 1984: •
In obtaining certification of the percentage
of postconsumer materials and Ice
percentage of manufacturing forest residues
and other wastes, it is the intent of Section
600Z as amended by this Act that vendors
supply the procuring agency with a statement
from the mill indicating the percentages used
by the mill in producing the paper and their
sources of raw material. (H.R. Rep. No. 98-
1133, 98th Cong. 2nd Sess, 121 (1934)
[emphasis added).
c. Verification* Procuring agencies •
also are required to establish . ...
"reasonable verification procedures for >-.
estimates and certificationa." [RCRA- •
Section 6002(iK2](C)J If these
verification procedures includf ateess
to mill opwators* reowds. then the
procuring agency mist use some
authority athe* than RCRA to inspect
these rees rda or mast require vendosa to
have an agreement with the raift
operator to suppy such inforraatioa or
access to the procuring agency.
In geneiai paper manufacturers
maintain records of the feedstocks used
in each "rwa" or "Jot" of paper for their
own internal quality and specification
controls. The optimum mix of recovered-..
' and virgin fiber often remains the same
for each grade of paper, though
variations may occur in individual runs.
In most eases manufacturers will be
able to provide a certification to vendors
as to the specific fiber content of the
product shipped to a customer. It is nor
intended that the guideline require any
additional records to be kept by the • .
mills: the records normally kept should
be complete enough to estimate or •"
certify to recovered materials content
accurately. However, to simplify the-.
verification procedure and
accommodate variations dictated by
quality control and supply, the averagd
amount of recovered materials used in' ~~
each speciiSc-prodnct over a one-month' •
period may be used; if necessary, to
meet the reqairemenf for verification of
estimates. IShice mills commonly keep
accounting and record summaries on a '
monthly ba;sig,EPA recommends that;
the one-month figures be used for
estimates of fiber percentages. Should it
be necessary to verify the exact content
of a specific lot or run of paper, the mijl
records for that lot or run can then be
consulted.
However, if the vendor knows that the
recovered materials content of paper or
paper products supplied to procuring
agencies differs from the monthly
average, then the average cannot be
used For example; if the monthly
average is 30 percent postconsumer
recovered materials content but the •
paper or paper product supplied
contains-no postconsumer recovered
materials oir conversely contains 60
percent recovered content, then the •' •
vendor cannot use the monthly average;
Use of the average in such instances will
be viewed as an attempt to circumvent
the requirements of RCRA in supplying
paper or paper products to the procuring
agency.
Monthly averages-cannoi be used for
'certification. Every shipment may not •
contain recovered materials content
equal to or {greater than the average.
However, tlie minimum percentage of
recovered materials used in-recycled
paper products- by the mill can he
determined from monthly record.; for
certification purposes. . .
-------
23558 Federal Register / Vol. 53. No. 120 / Wednesday. June 22. 1988 / Rules and Regulations
In the preamble to the final gnideline.
EPA indicated that it had received
comments indicating that in the case of
the printing and writing grades, mills
sometimes cannot distinguish'
postconsumer recovered materials from
other recovered materials. • '
Consequently, it would be difficult to
comply with the estimation and
certification requirement to identify
postconsumer recovered material
content. In most cases, however, mills
have detailed knowledge of their raw
materials. While postconsumer
recovered materials content of every „
bale of waste paper may not be known
to a certainty, mills can make
reasonable estimates based on their
extensive knowledge of their raw
materials. In the revised guideline
issued today. EPA has adopted "waste
paper" content standards to resolve any
inherent fiber identification problems
with the printing and writing grades of
paper.
4. Annual Review and Monitoring
The fourth requirement of the
affirmative procurement program is an
annual review and monitoring of the
effectiveness of the program. EPA
explained these requirements in full in
the final paper guideline, 52 FR 37301
(October b. 1987). The review should
include ah estimate of the quantity of
paper and paper products containing
recovered materials purchased during
the year.
EPA believes that procuring agencies
should review the range of estimates
and certifications of recovered materials
content provided by vendors during the
year. Significant and repeated variations
between the minimum content
standards, certifications, and estimates
would signal that changes in specific
minimum content standards may be
warranted. EPA further believes that
information provided by the estimation
requirement will be particularly helpful
to procuring agencies when they review
their compliance with the requirement to
purchase paper and paper products with
the highest percentage of recovered
materials practicable. , •
Similarly, if information from • •
estimates received or other data reveal
that sufficient bids-would have-been
submitted in response to standards '
using higher minimum content levels.
then the procuring agencies should
consider revising their standards
accordingly. If there was a lack of
competition, the procuring agencies
should determine Whether the standards
must be lowered. This would satisfy the
statutory requirements for procuring
agencies in RCRA Section 6002(c)(l) and
those specific to the minimum content "
standards approach in RCRA Section
6002(iJ(3)(B).
In the proposed amendments to the
paper and paper products procurement
guideline. EPA recommended that
procuring.agencies compile statistical
records of paper and paper products
procurements. EPA identified six
categories of data, recommended that a
summary of the data be included in the
procuring agency's annual review, and
recommended that procuring agencies
send a report discussing the findings,
made during the annual review to the
Office of Federal Procurement Policy
(OFPP) for inclusion in OFPP's biennial
report io Congress. EPA is including this
recommendation in the final guideline
today, with one exception.
OFPP has informed EPA that it does
not have the technical expertise to
review the data. For this reason, EPA is
no longer recommending that procuring
agencies send a report discussing their
findings to OFPP. EPA continues to
believe that this information will be
useful to the public, however. EPA notes
that this guideline will apply to State
and local procuring agencies and
contractors, as explained under
"Applicability". Information drawn from
the experience .of Federal procuring
agencies about purchases of paper and
paper products containing recovered
materials would therefore be useful to
State and local purchasing officials and
contractors. Accordingly, EPA
.encourages Federal procuring agencies
to make their reports available to the
public.
EPA has concluded that one purpose
of the requirement that vendors estimate
the total percentage of recovered
materials is to provide information to
procuring agencies that can be used in
future procurements. Farther, procuring
agencies need to keep up-to-date on
changes in recycling practices and
availability of products containing
recovered materials. EPA believes that'
unless a procuring agency compiles such
data, it will not be fulfilling its statutory
obligations.
For these reasons. EPA believes that
agencies should keep statistical records
of paper and paper products
procurements to properly implement the
intent of Congress in requiring an-
affirmative procurement program. A
summary of these records should be
included in the annual review and ' ,
monitoring of the effectiveness of the
program.
• Note that for printing/writing papers.
the data gathered will pertain to .
information on waste paper content
instead of information on postconsumer
recovered materials, and for cotton fiber
papers, the data will pertain to
recovered materials content. For all
other categories of paper and paper
products, postconsumer recovered
materials content should be used.
A program for gathering statistics
need not be elaborate to be effective.
However, agencies should monitor their
procurements to compile data on the
following:
(a) The percentage of recovered
materials in the products procured or
offered:
(b) Comparative price information on
competitive procurements;
(c) The quantity of each item procured
over a fiscal yean
(d) The availability of the paper and
paper products to procuring agencies;
(e) Type of performance tests
conducted, together with the categories
of paper and paper products containing
recovered materials that failed tests, the
percentage of total virgin products and
products containing recovered
materials, respectively, that failed each
test, and the nature of the failure:
. (fj Agency experience with the
performance of the procured products.
•The Government Printing Office has
informed EPA .that every shipment of
paper or paper products is tested.
Because .of the number of shipments
received (shipments are received on a
daily basis, with multiple shipments
often being received on any given day),
it would be a burden for procuring
agencies to retain the results of each of
these tests. Instead, procuring agencies
should identify the performance tests
used and maintain records, by test, on
the percentage of failures by paper and
paper products containing recovered
materials and on the nature of these
failures.,
EPA recommends that each procuring
agency prepare a report on its annual
review and monitoring of the
effectiveness of its procurement
program. As part of the report, agencies
using the case-by-case approach or a
substantially equivalent alternative
should demonstrate that their preference
program results in procurement of paper
and paper, products containing
recovered materials to the maximum
extent praticable. Agencies using the
minimum content standards approach
should determine whether their
minimum content standards should be
raised, lowered, or remain constant for
each item. The basis for these
determinations should be a review of
the data compiled on recovered
materials content.' price, availability,
and performance, as well as a
comparison of estimates and
certifications provided by the vendors.
-------
Federal Register / Vol. 53. No. 120 / Wednesday. June 22. 1988 / Rules and Regulations 23559
Agencies should also document
specification revisions made during the
reporting period.,
The revised final guideline issued
today incorporates the recordkeeping
recommendations. In § 250.23. paragraph
(d) identifies the six categories of
records. In § 2S0.24, paragraph (c)
recommends that the annual review
include a summary of the data compiled
in each category and that the results of
the annual review be made avilable to
the public.
A commenter stated that the
recordkeeping provisions should be
requirements rather than
recommendations. The commenter
argues that EPA has full authority to
make the recordkeeping provisions
requirements and that the statutory
basis is as firm as the basis for stating in
5 250.23 that contracting officers must
require vendors to submit estimates and
certifications of re-refined oil content.
KPA disagrees. Section 0002 clearly
identifies what is required of procuring
agencies, and recordkeeping is not
included. On the other1 hand contracting
officers are required to obtain estimates
;ind certifications from vendors. Section
6(X)2 does not authorize EPA to require
anything of procuring agencies, let alone
recordkeeping. Thus. EPA can only
recommend that procuring agencies
keep records on procurements of items
containing recovered materials.
V. Price, Competition. Availability, and
Performance
As described above. Section fi002(c)(t)
of RCRA provides that a procuring
agency may decide not to purchase an
item designated by EPA if it determines
that the item is available only at an
unreasonable price, a satisfactory level
of competition cannot be maintained.
the item it not reasonably available
within a reasonable period of time, or
the item fails to meet the performance
standards. EPA has considered the
effect of these limitations on paper and
paper products containing recovered
m.itori.ils.
Cpmnu>ntors stated that EPA is
requried under Section 6002(e) to
provide detailed information about the
availability, price, and performance of
paper and paper products containing
recovered materials. EPA has
determined that such information varies
significantly over short periods of time.
Paper and paper products are made
from virgin and recovered commodities
which fluctuate in value according to
supply and demand within the national
and international economies. Even
-------
23560 -fffi"*1 **&**** I Voi- SS- NO- MO / Wednesday, June 22. 1988 / Rules and Regulations
priming and writing paper and tissue
products. EPA will not place a list of
mills in the guideline itself, however,
because one purpose of the guideline is
to encourage new suppliers, not to
promo e existing suppliers, and thus to
encourage greater use of recovered
materials. Procuring agencies also are in
direct contact with paper vendors on a
regular basis and can seek this
information directly.
D. Performance
Product performance is discussed
above in Section IV.E of the preamble. -
VI. ImplAtrmntntmr|
Different parts of Section 6002 refer to
different dates by which procuring
agencies must have completed or
initiated a required activity: (1) May 6,
1908 (i.e.. 18 months after enactment of
HSWA); [Z] one year after the date of
publication of an EPA guideline; and (3)
the date specified in EPA guidelines. As
a result there is some confusion with
respect to which activities must be
completed or initiated by each date.
This section of the preamble explains
these requirements.
First, coder Section KW2(dHl), Federal
agencies that have the responsibility for
drafting or reviewing specifications for
procurement items most eliminate from
such specifications any exclusion of
recovered materials and any
requirements that items be
manufactured from virgin materials.
This activity was required to be
completed by May a, 1366.
Second, procuring agendas must
assure thai their specifications for
procurement items designated by £PA
require the use of recovered materials to
the maximum extent possible without
jeopardizing the intended end use of the
item [Section 60Q2(dK2jj- la addition.
procuring agencies most develop an
affirmative procurement program for
purchasing Urm* designated by EPA. in
this instance, paper end paper products
containing recovered material* (Section
6002(i}{l)J. Both of these activities must
be completed within one year after the
date of publication of a guideline by
EPA. Because the revised guideline
issued today supersedes the final
guideline ttaued on October 8.1987,
specification revisions and development
of an affirmative procurement program
for paper and paper products must be
completed within one year from today.
Third, after the date specified by EPA
in the applicable guideline, procuring
agencies that procure items designated
fay EPA Joust begin procurement of «uch
item* containing the highest percentage
of recovered materials practicable
ISectioo 60Q2(cMl)}. Jin addition,
contracting officers must require
venders to submit estimates and
certifications'of recovered materials
content [Section 60Q2(c)(3)J.
With respect to this third set of
requirements, EPA believes that
procuring agencies should begin to
procure paper and paper products
containing recovered materials as soon
as the specification revisions have been
completed and the affirmative
procurement programs have been
developed. As stated, these latter
activities must be completed within one
year after publication of a guideline.
Again, because the revised guideline
published today supersedes the final
guideline published on October 6,1987,
to be consistent wfth the statutory
requirements, EPA has concluded that
affirmative procurement should begin
one year from today.
To darify this point, EPA has added
§ 250.25 to the final guideline which
states procuring agencies must begin
procurement of paper and paper
products containing recovered materials
one year from the date of publication c-f
this revised guideline as a final rule.
EPA expects cooperation from
affected procuring agencies in
implementing this guideline. Under
Section «XJ2(g) of RCRA, the Office of
Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), in
cooperation with EPA, is responsible for
overseeing implementation of the
requirements of Section 6002 and for
coordinating it with other Federal
procurement policies. OFPP is required
to report to Congress on actions taken
by Federal agencies to implement
Section 6002.
VIL Summary of Supporting Analyses
A. General
The preamble to the final paper
guideline included a discussion of die
technical material supporting the
guideline. 52 FR 37305 (October 6,1S87J.
That material is applicable to the
revised guideline as well. In addition, as
indicated in the preamble. EPA flan
added technical material supporting the
. revised minimum content standard for
corrugated boxes and solid fiber boxes,
as well as the cotton fiber paper
minimum content standard. .
B. Environmental and Energy Impacts
Concerns about the high volumes and
cost of .solid waste disposal and the
difficulty many communities -are having
in locating new-disposal sites, as well as
Congressional mandate, were the chief
reasons for the final paper guideline.
EPA has not concluded that there will
be any significant environmental impact.
positive or negative, from the Federal
procurement of paper and paper
products containing recovered
materials.
The energy advantage varies from
product to product and mill to mill as
well as between users of virgin and
recovered materials. Recycled
feedstocks seem to be a minor factor.
EPA has concluded that the energy
efficiency between mills, be they virgin
or recycling, is greater than the
difference in energy efficiency between
the two types of mills, which tends to
reduce the importance of this issue.
C. Volume Reduction and Cost Impacts
of Reducing Paper Disposal in Landfills
This was explained in full in the
preamble to the final paper guideline, 52
FR 37304 {October S. 1987).
D. Executive Order No. 12291
Under ExecTiuve Order {E.O.) No.
12291. regulations must be classified as
major or nonmajor. E.O. No. 12291
establishes the following criteria for a
regulation to qualify as a -major rule:
i. An annual effect on the economy of $100
million or outre;
2. A major increase ia costs or prices for
consumers: individual industries: Federal.
state, or local .government agencies; or
geographic regions or
3. Significant adverse effects on
competition, employment investment
productivity, irmoration. or the ability of the
United Stetej-based enterprises to compete
with foreign-based enterprises in domestic or
export markets.
Federal purchases of paper and paper
products do not constitute a large
enough share of these markets for
industry to make manufacturing
decisions that are not otherwise
economically feasible in order to meet
Federal procurement requirements. In
fact some Federal procurement policies
have been modified in recent years to
conform more closely to common
commercial standards for some paper
products, e.g-. -toilet tissue.. The
flexibility allowed to the procuring
agencies in implementing an affirmative
procurement program should mak« it
possible to make adjustments if any
adverse market dislocation or decrease
in competition should occur.
Because of the number of items
included in the paper and paper product
caiegories-and the-number.of
procwremeal Actions taken by procuring
agencies each year, some agencies may
find it necessary to initially allocate
additional resources to implement this
guideline. However, the flexibility
allowed andtbe practicesreconnnended
this guideline are intended Jo« void
ased expenditures by
-------
Federal Register / Vol. 53, No. 120 / Wednesday, June 22, 1988 / Kules and Regulations 23561
procuring agencies. For example, EPA
has recommended that the procedure for
estimating and certifying recovered
materials content be simple and that it
be consistent with the procuring
agency's usual contracting procedure.
On the basis of the above information
and on more extensive data in the
rulemaking docket, the Agency earlier
concluded that the final paper guideline
was a nonmajor rule. The revisions to
the guideline have not changed this
conclusion.
This document has been submitted to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review as required by E.O.
No. 12291. .
E. Regulatory Flexibility Act
Pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility
Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., whenever an
agency publishes a general notice of
rulemaking for any proposed or final
rule, it must prepare and make available
for public comment a regulatory
flexibility analysis that describes the
impact of the rule on small entities (i.e.,
small businesses, small organizations,
small governmental jurisdictions),
unless the Administrator certifies that
the rule will not have significant
economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities.
Because of the $10,000 threshold* EPA
does not expect a substantial number of
• small entities to be affected by this
guideline. The Agency also believes that
, the flexibile approach to procurement of
paper and paper products containing
recovered materials provided for in this
guideline will not impose a significant
regulatory or economic burden on small
procuring agencies, manufacturers,
vendors, or contract printers. Detailed-
information on this assessment can be
found in the RCRA docket for this
guideline.
Pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C.
605(b), I hereby certify that this
guideline will not have a significant •
economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. Thereforei this.
guideline does not require a Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 250
Forest and forest products.
Government contracts. Government
procurement. Packaging and containers.
Paper, Postconsumer materials,
Recovered materials. Recycling,
Resource recovery, Waste paper.
Dated: June 16.1988.
Lee M. Thomas,.
Administrator.
For the reasons set out in the
Preamble. Part 250 of Title 40 of the
Code of Federal Regulations is revised
to read as follows:
PART 250—GUIDELINE FOR FEDERAL
PROCUREMENT OF PAPER AND
PAPER PRODUCTS CONTAINING
RECOVERED MATERIALS
Subpart A—General
See.
250.1 Purpose.
250.2 Designation.
250.3 Applicability.
250.4 Definitions.
Subpart 8—Revisions and Addition* to
Paper and Paper Product Specification*
250.10 Introduction
250.11 'Elimination of recovered materials
exclusion.
250.12 Requirement of recovered materials
content.
250.13 Exclusion of products containing
recovered materials that do not meet
reasonable performance standards. .
250.14 New specifications.
Subpart C—Affirmative Procurement
Program
250.20 General.
250.21 {^covered materials preference
program.
250.22 Promotion program.
250.33 Estimates, certification, and
verification.
250.24' Annual review and monitoring.
250.25 Implementation.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 6912(a) and 6962.
Subpart A—General
§250.1' Purpose.
(a) The purpose of this guideline is to
assist procuring agencies in complying
with the requirements of section 6002 of
the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as
amended by the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended,
as that section applies to paper and
paper products designated in § 250.2 of
this part.
(b) This guideline contains
recommendations for implementing the
requirements of section 6002 of RCRA,
including the revision of specifications .
and the establishment of an affirmative
program for' the procurement of paper
and paper products containing
recovered materials. The guideline also
• makes recommendations concerning
solicitations for bids and estimation,
certification, and verification
procedures. In addition, the guideline
sets dates for implementation.
(c) The Agency believes that
adherence to the practices
recommended in the guideline
constitutes compliance with section 6002.
of RCRA, as it relates to the purchase of .
paper and paper products containing
recovered materials.
J250.*. Dealgrutton.
Under section 6002(e)(l) of RCRA,
paper and paper products are
designated as items which can be
produced with recovered materials and
whose procurement by procuring
agencies will carry out the objectives of
section 6002 of RCRA. As used in this
guideline, the term "paper and paper
products" does not include building and
construction paper grades.
§ 250.3 Applicability.
(a) This guideline applies to all paper
and paper products purchased with
appropriated Federal funds.
(b)(l) This guideline applies to all
procuring agencies and to all
procurement actions involving paper
and paper products where the procuring
agency purchases $10,000 or more worth
of one of these items during the course
of a fiscal year, or where the cost of
such items or of functionally equivalent
items purchased during the preceding
fiscal year wasi $10,000 or more.
(2) This guideline applies to Federal
agencies, to State or local agencies using
appropriated Federal funds, and to
persons contracting with any such
agencies with respect to work performed
under such contracts. Federal agencies
should note that the requirements of
RCRA section 6002 apply to them
whether or not appropriated Federal
funds are used for procurement of items
designated by EPA.
(3) The $10,000 threshold applies to
procuring agencies as a whole rather
than to agency subgroups such as
regional offices or subagencies.
(c) For purposes of the $10,000
threshold, each item listed in each
category below is considered to be
functionally eq.uivalent to every other
item in the category:
(1) All grades and types of
xerographic/copy paper
(2) Newsprint;
(3) All grades and types of printing
and writing pa pen
(4) .-Corrugated and fiberboard boxes:
(5) Folding boxboard and cartons:
(6) Stationers', office papers (e.g.,
memo pads; scratch pads), envelopes,
and manifold business forms including
computer paper;
(7) Toilet tissue, paper towels, facial
tissue, paper napkins, doilies, and
industrial wipers; and
(8) Brown papers .and coarse papers.
(d) .Procurement actions covered by
this guideline include:
(1) All purchases of paper and paper
products made directly by a procuring
agency or by any person contracti-ig
with any such agency with respen ID
work being performed under such
-------
June a' 1988 7 Rules and
conli-act, for example, contract printing;
and.
(2) Indirect purchases of paper and
paper products made by a procuring
agency, such as purchasingfesulting
from Federal grants, loans, and similar
fo«ms of disbursements of monies that
the procuring agency intended to be
used for the procurement of paper or
paper products.
(e) Purchases of paper and paper
products that are unrelated or incidental
to Federal funding, te., not the direct
result of a Federal contract grant, loan,
funds disbursement, or agreement with a
procuring agency, are not covered by "
this guideline.
$250.4 Definition*.
As used in this guideline, the
following terms shall have the meaning
indicated below:
(a) "Act" or "RCRA" means the Solid
Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the
Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act. as amended. 42 U.S.C. 6901 etseq.;
(b) "Bleached papers" means paper
made of pulp that has been treated with.
bleaching agents;
(c) "Bond paper" means a generic
category of paper used In a variety of
end use applications such as forms (see
"form bond"), offset printing, copy
paper, stationery, etc. In the paper
industry, the term was originally very
specific but is now very general.
(d) "Book paper" means a generic
category of papers produced in a variety
of forms, weights, and finishes for use in
books and other graphic arts
applications, and related grades such as
tablet, envelope, and converting papers;
(e) "Brown papers" means papers
usually made from unbleached kraft
pulp and used for bags, sacks, wrapping
paper, and so forth;
(f) "Coarse papers** means papers
used for industrial purposes, as
distinguished from those used for
cultural or sanitary purposes;
(gJ-'Connputer paper" means a type of
paper used in ma'nifold business forms
produced in-rolls and/or fan folded. It is
used with computers and word
processors to print out data.
inforaation, letters, advertising, etc. It is
cottBwnly called computer printout
(h) "Corrugated boxes" means boxes
«iade of corrugated paperboard, whkh.
in turn, is made from a Bated
corrugating medium pasted to two fiat
sheet* of paperboard (Imerboard);
multiple iayera may be used:
(i) "Cotton fibercoatent papers"
means paper that contains a minimum of
25 percent and up to 100 percent
«ceUnloM fiber* derived from lint cotton.
cotton linters, and cotton or linen cloth
cuttings. It i* abo known as rag content
paper or rag paper. It is used for
stationery, currency, ledgers, wedding
invitations, maps, and other specialty
papers:
(0 "Cover stock" or "Cover paper"
means a heavyweight paper commonly
used for covers, books, brochures,
pamphlets, and the like;
(k) "Doilies" means paper place mats
used on food service trays in hospitals
and other institutions;
(1) "Duplicator paper" means writing
papers used for masters or copy sheets
in the aniline, ink or hectograph process
of reproduction (commonly called spirit
machines);
(m) "Envelopes" means brown,
manila, padded, or other mailing
envelopes not included with
"•stationery;"
(n) "Facial tissue" means a class of
soft absorbent papers in the sanitary
tissue group;
(o) "Federal agency" means any
department, agency, or other
instrumentality of die Federal
Government, any independent agency or
establishment of the Federal
Government including a government
corporation, and the Government
Printing Office;
(p) "Fiber or fiberboard boxes" means
boxes made from containerboard, either
solid fiber or'corrugated paperboard
(general term); or boxes made from solid
paperboard of the .same material
throughout (specific term);
(q) "Folding boxboard" means a
paperboard suitable for the manufacture
of folding cartons;
(r) "Form bond" means a lightweight
commodity paper designed primarily for
business forms including computer
printout and carbonless paper forms.
(See manifold business forms);
(s) "Industrial wipers" means paper
towels especially made for industrial
cleaning and wiping;
(t) "Ledger paper" means a type of
paper generally used in a broad variety
of recordkeeping type applications such
as in accounting machines.
(u) "Manifold business forms" means
a type -of product manufactured by
business form's manufacturers that is
commonly produced as marginally
punched continuous forms in small rolls
or fan folded sets wim or without
carbon paper interleaving, ft has a wide
variety of uses such as invoices,
purchase orders, office memoranda.
shipping orders, and computer printout;
(v) "Mill broke" means any paper
waste generated in a paper mill prior to
completion of the papermaking process.
it 4s usually returned directly to the
pulping process. Mill broke fe excluded
from the definition of "recovered
materials;"
(w) "Mimeo paper" means a grade of
writing paper used for making copies on
stencil duplicating machines;
(x) "Newsprint" means paper of the
type generally used in the publication of
newspapers or special publications like
the Congressional Record. It is made
primarily from mechanical wood pulps
combined with some chemical wood
pulp;
(y) "Office papers" means note pads.
Ioose4eaf fillers, tablets, and other
papers commonly used in offices, but
not defined elsewhere;
(zj "Offset printing paper" means an
uncoated or coated paper designed for
offset lithography;
(aa) "Paper".means one of two broad
• subdivisions of paper products, the other
being paperboard. Paper is generally
lighter in basis weight, thinner, and
more flexible than paperboard. Sheets
0.012 inch or less in thickness are
generally classified as paper. Its primary
uses are for printing, writing, wrapping.
and sanitary purposes. However, in this
guideline, the term paper is*also used as
a generic term that includes both paper '
and paperboard.lt includes the
following types of papers: bleached
paper, bond paper; book paper, brown
paper, coarse paper, computer paper,
cotton fiber content paper, cover stock
or cover paper, duplicator paper, form
bond, ledger paper, manifold business
forms, mimeo paper, newsprint, office
papers, offset printing paper, printing
paper, stationery, tabulating paper,
unbleached papers, writing paper, and
xerographic/copy paper.
(bb) "Paper napkins" means special
. tissues, white or colored, plain or
printed usually folded, and made in a
variety of sizes for use during meals or
with beverages;
(cc) "Paper product" means any item
manufactured from paper or
paperboard. The -term "paper product" is
used in this guideline to distinguish such
items as boxes, doilaes, and paper
towels from printing and writing papers.
It includes the fallowing types of
products; corrugated boxes, doilies,
envelopes, facial tissue, fiberboard
boxes, folding boxboard. industrial
wipers, paper napkins, paper towels,.
tabulating cards, and toilet tissue;
(dd) "Paper towels" means paper
toweling in folded sheets, or in raw
form, for use in drytag or cleaning, or
where quick absorption is required;
(ee) 4*aperf>oard" mean* one of the
two broad subdivisions of paper, the
other being paper itself. Paperboard is
usually heavier in basis weight and
thicker than paper. Sheets 0.012 inch or
more in thickness are generally
classified as paperboard. The broad
-------
23WS
isen
tainerboari winch isuse&fbr
rugated baxesrboxboarATwhich is
icipaBf-used to make cartonsvand all
er psperboardr je_ui_»
ff) "Person" means an muwwrawi
st, firm, joint stock company,
poration {including a government
•poration), partnership, association,
ite. municipality, commission,
Lineal subdivision of a State, or any
erstate body.
(gg) "Practicable" means capable of
ing used consistent with: performance
accordance with applicable
lecificationa, availability at a
asonable price, availability within a
•asonable period of time, and
.aintenance of a satisfactory level of
ompetition;
(hh) "Printing paper" means paper
esigned for printing, other than
ewsprint, such aa offset and Book
>aper;
(ii) "Procurement item" means any
levice, good, substance, material,
>roduct or other item, whether real or
jersonal property., that is the subject of
iny purchase, barter, or other exchange
nade to procure such item;
Oil "Procuring agency" means any
Federal agency, or any State agency or
agency of a political subdivision of a
State that is using appropriated Federal
funds for such procurement", or any
person contracting with any such-
agency with respect to work performed
under such contract;
(kk) "Recovered materials" means
waste material and by-products that
have been recovered or diverted from
solid waste, but such term does not
include those materials and by-products
generated from, and commonly reused
within, an original manufacturing
process. In the case of paper and paper
products, the term "recovered
materials" includes? •
(1) Postconsumer materials- such as:
(i) Paper, paperboard, and fibrous
wastes from retail stores, office
buildings, homes, and so for*, after they
have passed through their end usage as
a consumer item, including: Used
corrugated boxes, old newspaper* old
magazines, mixed waste paper.
tabulating cards, and used cordage, and.
(ii) All paper, paperboard. and fibrous
wastes that enter and are collected from
municipal solid waste: and
(2) Manufacturing, forest residues, and
. other wastes such as:
(i) Dry paper and paperboard waste
generated after completion of the
papermaking process (that is. those
manufacturing operations up to and
including the cutting and trimming of the
paper machine reel into smaller roils or
rough sheets) including envelope
cutting* bindery trimmings,
paper and paperboard waste, resulting.
from printing, cutting, forming, and other
converting operations; bag, box and
carton manufacturing wastes; and butt
rolls, mill wrappers, and rejected unused
stock; and
(ii) Finished paper and paperboard
from obsolete inventories of paper and
paperboard manufacturers, merchants,
wholesalers, dealers, printers,
converters, or others;
(iii) Fibrous by-products of harvesting,
manufacturing, extractive, or wood-
ratting processes, flax, straw, linters,
bagasse, slash, and other forest
residues;
(iv) Wastes generated by the
conversion of goods made from fibrous
material (e.g.. waste rope from cordage
manufacture, textile mill waste, and
cuttings); and
(v) Fibers recovered from waste water
that otherwise would enter the waste
stream;
(11) "Recyclable paper" means any
paper separated at its point of discard or
from the solid waste stream for
utilization as a raw material in the
manufacture of a new product. It is often
called "waste paper" or "paper stock."
Not all paper in the waste stream in
recyclable; if may be heavily
contaminated or otherwise unusable.
(mm) "Specification" means a.
detailed description of the technical
requirements for materials, products, or-
services that specifies the minimum'
requirement for quality and construction
of materials and equipment necessary
for an acceptable product.
Specifications are generally in the form
of a written description, drawings.
prints, commercial designations, •
industry standards, and other •
descriptive references;
(tin) "State" means any of thaseveral
states, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the
Virgin Islands, Guam. American Samoa,
and the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands;
(oo) "Stationery" means writing paper
suitable for pen and ink, pencil, or
typing. Matching envelopes are included
in this definition.
(pp) 'Tabulating cards" means carda
used in automatic tabulating machines;
'Tabulating paper" means paper used in
tabulating forms for use on automatic
data processing equipment;
(qq) "Toilet tissue" means a sanitary
tissue paper. The principal
characteristics are softness, absorbency,
cleanliness, and adequate strength
(considering easy disposability). It is
marketed in rolls of varying sizes or in
interleaved packages.
(rr) "UnWeacned papers" memnr
papers made of palp that have not been
treated with bleaching agentK
(ss> "Waste papet" means any of the
following, "recovensd material*' V
(1) Posteonaumer material* such as:
(i) Paper, paperbaard, and fibrous
wastes from retail store*, office
buildings, homes, and-so forth, after thejr
have passed throuj[h their end usage as
a consumer item, including: Used
corrugated boxes, old newspapers, old
magazines, mixed waste paper,
tabulating cards, and used cordage, and
(ii) All paper, paperboard, and fibrous
wastes that enter and are collected from
municipal solid waste; and .
(2) Manufacturing, forest residues, and
other wastes such as:
(i) Dry paper and paperboard waste
generated after completion of the
papermaking pieces* (that is, those
manufacturing operations up to and
including the cutting and trimming of the
paper machine reel into smaller rolls or
rough sheets) including: Envelope
cuttings^ bindery trimmings, and other
paper and paperboard waste, resulting
from printing, cutting, forming, and other
converting operations; bag. box. and
carton manufactuiring wastes; and butt
rolls, mill wrappeirs, and rejected unused
stock and;
(ii) Finished paper and paperboard
from obsolete inventories of paper and
paperboard manufacturers, merchants,
wholesalers, dealers; printers,
converters, or others
(tt) "Writing paper" means a paper
suitable for pen and ink. pencil,
typewriter or printing;
(uu)"Xerograpliic/copy paper" means
any grade of-paper suitable for copying
by the xerographic process (a dry
method of reproduction).
Sutopart B—Revisions and Additions to
Papar and Paper Product
Specifications
§ 250.10 Introduction.
Thi? subpart offers guidance to
Federal agencies that draft or review
specifications for paper and paper
products. As used in this snbpart. the
term "postconsumer recovered
materials" refers to waste paper in the
case of printing and writing papers and
to recovered materials ih the case of
cotton fiber papers.
§ 250.11 EnrnJnation of recovered
materials exclusion.
By May 8,1980t each Federal agency
was required to assure that its
specifications do net unfairly
discriminate against the use of
postconsumer rscoveted materials. At h
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23564
Federal gegkf« / Vol 53. JVo. 120 / Wednesday. JuneJ2._lg88/Rule8 and Regulations
minimum, except as provided in § 250.13
of this Part, each Federal agency was
required to:
(a) Revise those specifications,
standards, and procedures that require
that paper and paper products contain
only virgin materials to eliminate this
restriction; and
(b) Revise those specifications,
standards, and procedures that prohibit
using poatconsumer recovered materials
in paper and paper products to eliminate
this restriction.
§250.12 Requirement of recovered
material* content
(a) Within one year of publication of
this revised guideline, paper and paper
product specifications must require the
use of poatconaumer recovered
materials to the maximum extent
possible without jeopardizing the
intended end use of the paper or paper
product.
(b) Specifications that are
unnecessarily stringent for a particular
end use and that bear no relation to
function, such as brightness and
whiteness for copy paper, should be
revised in order to allow for a higher use
of postconsumer recovered materials.
Specifications that bear no relation to
function should be revised according to
the agency's established review
procedure. In determining the
relationship to function of existing
specifications, Federal agencies should
make maximum use of existing
voluntary standards and research by *
organizations such as the American
Society for Testing and Materials'
Committees D6, DlO, and F5; the
Technical Association of the Pulp and
Paper Industry; and the American
Institute of Paper Chemistry.
S 250.13 Exclusion of products containing
recovered materials that do not meet
reasonable performance standards.
(a) Notwithstanding the requirements
of §§ 250.11 and 250.12 of this Part, ••,
Federal agencies need not revise
specifications to allow or require the use
of postconsumer recovered materials if
it can-be determined that for technical
reasons, for a particular end use, a
product containing such materials will
not meet reasonable performance
standards.
(b) Any determination under this
section should be documented by the
'drafting and reviewing agency and be
based.on technical performance
information related to a specific item, •
not a grade of paper or type of product.
Agencies should reference such
documentation in subsequent
solicitations for the specific item in
order to avoid repetition of previously
documented points.
§250.14 New specifications.
When paper or a paper product
containing postconsumer recovered
materials is produced in types and
grades not previously available,
specifications should be revised to allow
use of such type or grade, or new
specifications should be developed for
such type or grade. EPA recommends
that procuring agencies monitor new
developments and use them to increase
. the use of postconsumer recovered
materials as appropriate.
Subpart C—Affirmative Procurement
Program
§250.20 General
(a) Within one year after the date of
publication of this revised guideline,
procuring agencies which procure paper
and paper products must establish an
affirmative procurement program for
such items. The program must meet the
requirements of section 6002{i) of RCRA.
including the establishment of a
preference program; a promotion
program; procedures for obtaining
estimates and certifica tion of
postconsumer recovered materials
content and for verifying the estimates
and certifications;'and an annual review
and monitoring program. This subpart
provides recommendations for
implementing section 6002(i).
(b) As used in this subpart, the term
"postconsumer recovered materials"
refers to waste,paper in the case of .
printing and writing grades and to
recovered materials in the case of cotton
fiber papers.
§ 250.21 Recovered material! preference
program.
(a)(l) EPA recommends that procuring
agencies establish minimum recovered
materials content standards that assure
that the postconsumer recovered
materials content required is the
maximum available without
jeopardizing the intended end use of the
item or violating the limitations of
Section 6002(c)(l) (A) through (C) of the
Act.
(2) EPA recommends that procuring
agencies set their minimum'content
levels at the highest levels that meet the
statutory requirements but no lower
than the levels shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1.—EPA RECOMMENDED MINIMUM CONTENT STANDARDS OF SELECTED PAPERS AND PAPER PRODUCTS
, ,
MftWtpfffrtttuu. Tt-rmttniitt. .•«.„•.
Hbh grxte blMctod printing and writing paper*:
OfHtt JXfrrfflQ, ,„. ,....._,...
Mimoo and dupxotor ptptr ...„„„ . " " ~
Writing (Mciaiwy). • ~ "
Office pep«f(t,g,no««p«d»)._m___ ' " ~"
P»P«r for Ngh-ipoed copfcrt - "" "'"
Form bond Indbiog computw pcpar •nd.carboofess
BoeHpfftr* • M -~-
Bonrlp«p«« . • . . -
LedQtf_ — , : ,__ ;
CtTMtfiffit __ . . ~ -"• —
Cotton ftur pfMrf , , . . „ "' •
Tittut product*: • • '
ToUMIiMu*. .. ,', „, ' • •• • !*.;.
• Piftf rupllnf j. . "" •-•""• "-•-"•
Minimum
percentage
of
recovered
materials
»»
•.»»«».«»
..„ .....
-•• — •
Minimum
percentage
of
postcon-
sumer
recovered •
materials
40
••— — -
,...._, „ „„
.......
20
. 40
30
Minimum
percentage
of waste
paper'
SO
50
50
50
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Federal Register / VoL 53. No. 120 / Wednesday, June 22; 1988 / Rules and Regulations
23565
TABLE 1.—EPA RECOMMENDED MINIMUM CONTENT STANDARDS OF SELECTED-PAPERS. AND PAPER. PFiooucra-Continued
Fac'ai tissue '
Doilies
Industrial wipers _ _ .. . _
Unbleached packaging:
Corrugated boxes „ . , _„_
Fiber boxes _ -
Brown papers (e.g., bags) _ ,
Recycled paperboard:
Recycled paperboard products including folding cartons . ... _
Pad backing ; _ _ , ....._
Minimum-
percentage
of
reoouertid
material!*
— 41_1.I-IH1IJ1-1
Minimum
percentage
of. .
postcorv •
stimef
recovered
materials
5.
35
'80
90
Minimum
pefcentage-
o^ waste-
paper*
- —- ..™..
••••——•—
"—•——"—•
••.«.»..«--, i n m »
1 Waste paper is dafined in Section 250.4 and refers to specified pqstconsumer and other recovered materials.
- EPA found insufficient production o» these papers with rscyded content to assure adequate competition.
(3) Minimum content standards should
be reviewed annually based on
procurement experiences, including data
compiled on postconsumer recovered.
materials content, as recommended in
§ 250.23{c) of this part.
(b) The recommendations in
paragraphs (a) (1) and (2) of this section*
as well aa any other affirmative •
procurement program that an agency
may adopt are subject to the following .
limitations provided in section 6002(c)(l-).
ofRCRA:
(1) Maintenance of a satisfactory level
of competition;
(2) Availability within a reasonable
period of time:
(3) Ability to meet the performance
specifications in the invitation for bids;
(4) Availability at a reasonable price.
(c) Procuring agencies should make
determinations regarding competition
and availability in accordance with the-
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).
48CFRCh. letseg.
§ 250.22 Promotion program.
EPA recommends that procuring
agencies consider all possible
promotional methods including the-
following:
(a) A special notation prominently
displayed in any paper or paper product
procurement solicitation or invitation to
bid.
(b) A statement in each paper
specification defining "postconsumer
recovered materials," "waste paper," or
"recovered materials," as applicable, as
they are defined in § 250.4 of this part
(c) A brief statement in
advertisements of bids describing the
preference program. Such
advertisements should be placed in the
Commerce Business Daily and
periodicals commonly read by vendors
of paper and paper products containing
postconsumer recovered materials.
fd) Catalog listings of available
products (such as GSA's Office
Supplies) indicating which paper or
paper product contains postconsumer
recovered materials.
(e) Discussion of the preference
program at bidders' conferences or.-
similar meetings of potential bidders, •
(f) Announcements in recycling-
journals, trade magazines, and
procurement publications.
§250.23 Estimates, cortitfcatlon, and
verification:
(a) Agencies must require vendors to
estimate the total percentage of
postconsumer recovered materials in
paper and paper products supplied to
them.
(b) Agencies must require vendors to
certify the minimum postconsumer
recovered materials to be used in the
performance of a contract
(c) There must be reasonable
verification procedures for estimates
and certifications, e.g., the procuring
agency may state in solicitations for
bids that in the case of a bidder's
protest, all estimates and certifications
will be subject to audits of mill records.
(d) For each paper or paper product
procured, agencies should maintain the
following records;
(1) The; percentage of postconsumer.
recovered materials in the products
procured-or offered;
(2) Comparative price information on
competitive procurements;
(3) The quantity of each item procured
over a fiscal yean
(4) The availability of the paper and
paper products to procuring agencies;
(5) Type of performance tests
conducted, together with the categories
of paper or paper products containing .
postconsumer recovered materials that
failed the tests; the percentage of total
virgin products and products containing
postconsumer recovered materials.
respectively, that failed each test; and
the nature of the failure;
(6) Agency experience with the
performance of ilhe procured products.
§250.24 Annual rsvisw and monitoring.
(a) Each procuring agency must
conduct an annual review and
monitoring of the effectiveness of its- •
affirmative procurement program.
(b) EPA recommends that the annual
review include the following items:
(1) An estimate of the-quantity of
paper and paper products purchased
containing postconsumer recovered
materials and the total quantity of paper
and paper products purchased.
(2) A review of the variation between
estimates and certifications of
postconsumer recovered materials
content in paper and paper products
purchased during the-year. If the
variations are significant procuring
agencies should determine whether
minimum content standards can be
introduced or raised without causing a
long-term increase in price.
(c) Procuring agencies should prepare
a report on their annual review and
monitoring of thsi effectiveness of their
procurement pro;grams and make the
report available to the public. The report
should contain the following
• information:
(1) If the case-by-case approach is
being used, a demonstration that they
procure paper and paper products
containing postconsumer recovered
materials to the maximum extent
practicable. The basis for this
determination should be a review of the
data compiled on recovered materials
content price, availability, and
performance, as-well as a comparison 01
estimates and certifications provided b>
the vendors^
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23566 Federal Register / Vol. 53. No. 120 / Wednesday. June 22. 1988 /
RegulaHons
(2) If the minimum content standards
approach is being used, a determination
of whether the minimum content
standards in use should be raised,
lowered, or remain constant for each
item. The basis for these determinations
should be a review of the data compiled
on postconsumor recovered'materials
conlont, price, availability, and
performance, as well as a comparison of
estimates and certifications provided by
the vendors.
(3) Documentation of specification
revisions made during the year.
§259.25 Implementation.
(a) Procuring agencies must complete
specification revisions in accordance
with RCRA section 6002(d)(2) and
development of affirmative procurement
programs in accordance with RCRA
section 6002(i) within one year from the
date of publication of this revised
guideline.
' (b) Procuring agencies must begin
procurement of paper and paper
products containing postconsumer .
recovered materials in compliance with
RCRA section 6002, one year from the
date of publication of this revised
guideline.
(FR Doc. 88-13917 Filed 8-21-68:8:45 am]
•turn CODE isw-so-m
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