Environmental Purchasing Programs
Recycling is more than just placing certain materials in a special bin. The recycling loop is complete only when materials that you have separated for recycling are processed and remanufactured into new products, which are then sold. Recycling works only when consumers, businesses and organizations buy products made with recycled material.
Advances in manufacturing technology have enabled most recycled products to compete — both in price and quality — with products made from virgin materials.
Always look at the level of post–consumer recycled content in a product: this is the material that has been collected from consumers and reprocessed. Manufacturers often include pre–consumer material in their total recycled content calculation: this material includes manufacturing scraps, and other by–products that were never used in the consumer market.
How to start a buy–recycled program
| Commitment |
Make a strong commitment to buy products with recycled–content. Gather support from management, and develop a company policy on buying recycled products.
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| Guidelines |
Use the guidelines established for government procurement of recycled paper and other products when developing your own purchasing policies.
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| Eliminate Obstacles |
Revise bid specifications to require minimum percentages of post–consumer recycled content in products. Remove clauses from specifications that mandate use of virgin materials only.
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Keep Quality
Standards High |
Vendors should be able to meet your performance requirements due to recent technological improvements. Test recycled products to determine their effectiveness before purchasing them in large quantities, and gradually phase in your program.
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| Education |
Educate employees and customers about your program by including statements like "Printed on 100% Recycled Content Paper with 20% Post–Consumer Content" where appropriate. Place announcements about your company's policies on bulletin boards and in employee newsletters.
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Performance
How do recycled content products perform? Recycled content products perform as well as their virgin counterparts. In some instances, they perform better. In many cases, you will not be able to distinguish recycled content products from virgin products.
According to the 1996 Annual Buy Recycled Survey conducted by the National Recycling Coalition's Buy Recycled Business Alliance, 97% of those surveyed were pleased with the overall performance of recycled products. In addition, a 1998 study sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors tested over 2 million sheets of 30% post–consumer content paper. Tests covered paper feeding, reliability, image quality, toner fixability, smoothness and curl, and showed equivalent performance to virgin papers.
Availability
Thousands of recycled–content products are available today. Many items from paper to office supplies to building materials to motor oil are available with recycled content. Many supply catalogs already contain a variety of recycled products, so you may be able to "buy recycled" from your current office supply vendor. Check the Buy Recycled Database to find the recycled products you want.
Organizations
There are several business organizations dedicated to the development of recycled content procurement.
The Buy Recycled Business Alliance is a broad–based group of private and public companies, and non–profit organizations, committed to increasing the purchase of recycled content products. Founded in 1992 by a group of 25 companies, membership in the Alliance has increased to 3,400 general members. Eighty percent of the membership is from the small business community. The Alliance supports and develops education and information programs that will provide useful information to potential buyers of recycled content products.
Environmental Purchasing
The Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center (PPRC) has compiled information that will assist purchasers in their efforts to establish or maintain an environmental purchasing program. Included is information that can assist in identifying "green" products, setting up an environmental purchasing program, general and specific resources that are available to purchasers and examples of procurement programs.
