Buy Recycled

Audience-Specific Web Resources

Many resources are available to help you learn more about recycled-content products (RCP) and other environmentally preferable products. The following resources are organized by the audience they were primarily designed by or for, though they may be useful to others.

• Federal Government
• State of California
• California Local Government
• Other States
• Other Local Governments
• Educational Institutions
• Private Sector

See also: Product-Specific Resources | Purchasing and Tracking Tools | General

Federal Government

• FedCenter.gov is the Federal government's home for comprehensive environmental stewardship and compliance assistance information.
• The Federal Network for Sustainability promotes cost-effective, energy- and resource-efficient operations across all branches of government. Its initiatives include greening federal copier paper, green power procurement, environmental management systems, and electronic products stewardship.
• General Services Administration/Federal Supply Service. Information on environmental products available from GSA.
• Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE). Information on federal buy recycled efforts. The OFEE recently issued a Model Agency Affirmative Procurement Plan that Federal agencies can use in developing an Affirmative Procurement Plan for the acquisition of United States Environmental Protection Agency-designated recycled-content products. The model also contains suggested elements for a highly aggressive plan addressing waste prevention, recycling, and other provisions of Executive Order 13101, "Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Federal Acquisition." The plan may be expanded to include the acquisition of other "green" products, such as energy-efficient or environmentally preferable products. The model plan and Executive Order 13101 are available on the web site.
  • Green Purchasing
• United States Department of Energy (DOE)
  • DOE’s Buying Recycled and Environmentally Preferable Products Program
  • Pollution Prevention Resources provided by DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).
  • Buy Recycled Questions and Answers
  • Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG). You'll find all you need to know about the CPG and USEPA's Recovered Materials Advisory Notices (RMAN), which recommend recycled-content levels for CPG items. You’ll also find recycled-content product fact sheets, news, and events.
  • Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
  • WasteWise. EPA's July 2001 WasteWise Update focused on environmentally preferable purchasing.

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State of California

• California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA). The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) is one of six agencies under the umbrella of Cal/EPA.
• Department of General Services (DGS). DGS is heavily involved in the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC) and also shares in CIWMB’s responsibilities for implementation of the SABRC. 

DGS’s Procurement Division has contracts for RCPs:

Statewide contracts

California Multiple Award Schedules (CMAS) contracts

DGS's Central Stores web site provides recycled-content information for the products offered by Central Stores.

DGS's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Best Practices Manual will assist you in finding and selecting environmentally preferable products.

DGS's Surplus Property Program is discussed in an article on the Board's CalMAX site. Customers can purchase a wide variety of goods ranging from office furniture, computers, and cleaning supplies to bicycles and playing cards for a fraction of their original costs. Remember, reused/refurbished products, such as these, are reportable as RCP purchases and count towards attainment of the mandated SABRC goals. The California Department of Transportation has already saved $1.5 million dollars by taking advantage of this program!

DGS Office of Sustainability—Their mission is to provide innovative and environmentally responsible solutions and services with efficiency, economy and integrity to help their customers succeed.

• Department of Water Resources (DWR). Learn about DWR's efforts to reduce waste, recycle, and buy recycled.

California Local Government

• Alameda County. Alameda's Waste Management Authority and Source Reduction and Recycling Board offers business assistance in the areas of waste prevention, RCP market development, technical assistance, and public education.
• Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition
• I Love a Clean San Diego
• Los Angeles County
• San Mateo County
• The City of Santa Monica has adopted a sustainable city plan, which is a comprehensive long-term environmental protection strategy for the community. The city develops specifications to ensure that products purchased are consistent with the sustainable city plan's goals and objectives.
• Ventura County Solid Waste Management

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Other States

• Buy Recycled Contacts in Other States. U.S.EPA’s WasteWise Helpline (800 EPA-WISE) can refer you to a contact in your state. They also have information on a number of state directories.
• Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. Their site offers guidance on purchasing recycled-content products.
• Florida Directory of Recycled Product Vendors (Adobe PDF, unknown file size)
• Maine State Planning Office, Waste Management & Recycling Program's Buying Recycled Web page.
• Maryland Environmental Service's Buy Recycled Training Program
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Environmentally Preferable Products Procurement Program
• Massachusetts Buy Recycled Business Alliance. The alliance is designed to encourage Massachusetts businesses to increase their purchase of products with recycled content. WasteCap of Massachusetts and the Center for Ecological Technology (CET) manage the alliance. Funding is provided by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
• The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality provides resources for buying recycled, such as the Michigan Manufactured Recycled Products Directory.
• The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (MOEA) maintains an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Web site that provides tools and resources to assist purchasers with incorporating environmental considerations into standard purchasing practices. The MOEA also maintains the Minnesota Recycled Products Directory.
• 2000-2001 Montana Guide for Buying Recycled Products
• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Recycling and Planning, Buy Recycled Web site.
• Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Recycling and Litter Prevention. Their Buy Recycled Web Page includes contact information for ordering a copy of the Directory of Ohio Vendors of Recycled Products.
• Oregon Solutions for a Sustainable Future. The Oregon Solutions Web site communicates progress in State government related to the Governor’s Executive Order on sustainability in State government.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has a page of "buy recycled basics." They list easy ways to buy recycled at work, as well as at home, school, and even on the farm!
• The Texas Buy Recycled Program is similar to the SABRC in California. This site includes access to a recycled product list.
• Vermont State Office of Purchasing. One of their main goals is to "maximize the state's use of waste and recycled materials and products, particularly where the added cost of using waste materials is less than the cost avoided by not having that waste in the waste stream."
• Washington maintains a web site for promoting Sustainable Business Practices and offers environmentally preferable products through its Central Stores.

Other Local Governments

• King County, Washington. The King County Environmental Purchasing Program assists county agencies in implementing King County Executive Policy CON-7-1-2, which requires agencies to use recycled and other environmentally preferable products "wherever practicable." The program researches and assembles information about these products and makes it available to specific agency users who can evaluate them and develop applications in county projects. The site provides procurement bulletins that contain information about the results of product evaluations and other accomplishments of county agencies, as well as general environmental purchasing topics.
• National Association of Counties (NACo). NACo's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program helps counties locate and select environmentally preferable products.
• New York City’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Guide
• City of Portland, Green Office Guide (Adobe PDF, unknown file size)
• City of Seattle, Office of Sustainability and Environment

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Educational Institutions

• CIWMB’s School District Waste Reduction Guide, Purchasing Section
• Healthy School Environment Resources. The United States Environmental Protection Agency provides this gateway to on-line resources to help facility managers, school administrators, architects, design engineers, school nurses, parents, teachers and staff address environmental health issues in schools.
• National Wildlife Federation, Campus Ecology Program. This program assists colleges and universities with implementing "greening projects" related to purchasing, energy, transportation, landscaping, and more.
• Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Environmentally preferable purchasing resources.
• Rutgers University's Enviro-Purchasing Web site
• University of California Sustainability Policies and Best Practices

Private Sector

• The Alliance for Environmental Innovation works with private companies to implement innovative environmental strategies. Its project areas include paper and packaging, vehicle emissions, and formulated products.
• Buy Recycled Business Alliance
• Private Sector Pioneers: How Companies are Incorporating Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (PDF format, 1.74 MB), a U.S. EPA document (EPA742-R-99/001, June 1999).

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Last updated: April 03, 2008