Market Status Report:
Buy Recycled Programs

Table of Contents

Preface

I. Introduction

II. Private Buy Recycled Strategy

• Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
• Model Green Building Projects
• Organics Alliance
• Building and Construction Alliance

III. State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign

IV. Strategies

V.  Summary

I.  Introduction

Assembly Bill 939 and subsequent related legislation brought an unprecedented and growing supply of secondary materials to the marketplace.¹ Even if California achieves 10 percent waste prevention, there are still about 12-13 million tons per year of postconsumer materials (in excess of what is currently being diverted) that must be diverted from California landfills to achieve the 50 percent goal by the year 2000.² To prevent their eventual return to the landfill, these materials must be manufactured into new products, and these new products must be purchased by consumers. Developing end markets for these recycled-content products (RCP) is crucial to achieving the goals of AB 939 and building a self-sustaining secondary material market in California.

An efficient and fully developed manufacturing infrastructure that will use collected secondary material is crucial.

However, this relatively new market faces the problems of any new market: the industry is reluctant to increase investments in infrastructure without a proven demand for recycled products, and unless supply and pricing become more predictable, there will not be a reliable demand for such products. Therefore, for this market to remain viable as the supply of secondary (and especially postconsumer) material increases, the demand for RCPs must be augmented. While the Legislature mandates several public and private programs designed to increase RCP manufacture and demand, demand has not kept pace with supply in the manner needed to attain the 50 percent diversion goal established by AB 939.

The benefits of increased RCP purchases are multidimensional: economic development, resource conservation, and a more flexible and revitalized economy. Therefore, the Board has been mandated to develop a private buy recycled program (Public Resources Code [PRC] sections 42600 and 40507, and Public Contract Code [PCC] section 12153) and the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (PCC §§ 10507.5 - 12225).

Both the private and State buy recycled efforts must be focused and coordinated to overcome obstacles to buying recycled. As identified in the Board adopted "Private Buy Recycled Strategy," today's barriers include low consumer awareness, inadequate information, and concerns about RCP quality, reliable availability, and competitive prices. Few changes in these barriers have occurred in the past year so the Board's current buy recycled programs are still appropriate and relevant.

II. Private Buy Recycled Strategy

To overcome the barriers identified above, the Board adopted a "Private Buy Recycled Strategy" in January 1995. The essence of this strategy is to harness the purchasing power of individual companies by creating alliances among private industry, local government, and other involved parties. The strategy calls for five alliances:

• Motion Picture and Television Industry
• Organics
• Paper
• Building and Construction
• Plastics

The Plastics Alliance is on hold due to resource constraints. These alliances will promote RCPs, waste reduction, and secondary material resource collection. Typical stakeholders include consumers, haulers, processors, manufacturers, vendors, local and State government, and nonprofit groups. A stakeholder is any party that is significantly involved in the recycling loop.

To break down RCP purchasing barriers and close the recycling loop, the stakeholders within these alliances must work together to understand and address each other's needs. Alliances establish recycled procurement goals for their members to increase the demand for RCPs and improve markets for collected materials. At the same time, stakeholders may also set goals for collection of recyclable materials. Finally, stakeholders look for solutions to the barriers related to the collection of secondary materials and the procurement of RCPs.

To support the strategy, the Board's Private Buy Recycled Program is creating a variety of outreach materials intended for the public and private sector. The materials include a resource guide of model procurement and waste management practices of businesses; sustainable building case studies; and the Recycled-Content Product Database database.

The Recycled-Content Product directory is mandated by PRC § 42600(d), which requires the Board to develop a directory of California vendors of recycled products. The database, which contains about 10,000 listings of recycled-content products, is now complete and is accessible on the Internet. The RCP Database can be queried on several different fields to focus searches and returns a random sample of up to five companies that meet the search criteria.

The five alliances are organized around specific commodities (e.g., paper and organics) and multiple materials (e.g., building and construction, office, and automotive supplies). The alliances focus on important components of the waste stream necessary to achieve the goals of the California Integrated Waste Management Act and overcome the barriers to RCP procurement.

Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) is a coalition of the major studios and supporting businesses in the film and television industry. The movie/television industry is participating in some of its own buy­recycled promotions, including development of a Web page that will list environmentally preferred products used specifically by studios and related businesses. Several studios have dedicated environmental coordinators. While Board staff remains accessible to AMPTP, workload priorities dictate an "as needed" role with this Coalition.

Model Green Building Projects

To address the coalition membership drive needs, the Board funded $10,000 for a demonstration Model Green Building Project in Glendale, California. The project's purpose is to provide a complete loop recycling system, from prevention to procurement, in office parks or multitenant office buildings. The primary criterion for building or complex selection was that it had at least one high-profile anchor business. (In Glendale, Allstate Insurance is the primary tenant buildings managed by Coldwell Banker's CB Commercial.)

Board staff expects to promote the program widely, with the belief that other companies will want to do similar programs when they see what others are able to do. Based on the results of similar model programs, there appear to be financial incentives for high volume paper generators to develop a closed-loop recycling system. The contractor for the Glendale Project RSI, Inc. reports that their highly successful pilot project in Woodland Hills recycled 7,100 tons in 1995, for a diversion rate of 65 percent. In addition to avoiding disposal costs, the Woodland Hills tenants obtained $1 million in revenue from sale of recyclables. Sixty-three percent of new products purchased by the tenant association members were RCPs at an average 12 percent savings, on all office products purchased through their group efforts.

The Glendale Project was kicked off on July 24, 1996, at a press event and continental breakfast for the employees. The Mayor of Glendale and other local dignitaries, Board Member Wesley Chesbro, and representatives of the now defunct Recycled Paper Coalition* and Bank of America attended the event.

A contract concept for $25,000 was approved by the Board on May 29, 1996, to sponsor two more projects, one in the Central Valley and a second one in Southern California. The advisors are currently reviewing the Scope of Work of the RFP, and if the contract remains on schedule, it will be let by December.

Organics Alliance

Although the Board is not involved in any formal Organics Alliance, Buy Recycled staff is currently promoting the use of urban organic materials through five agricultural demonstrations. Cooperating farmers in Alameda, Fresno, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and Tulare counties have established demonstration trials using compost or mulch in their agricultural production. Commercial crops of broccoli, cauliflower, cotton, grapes, green peppers, hay, lettuce, onions, peaches, strawberries, sweet corn, tomatoes, watermelons, avocados, and nursery stocks are grown in soil amended or mulched with materials made primarily from yard trimmings. The five compost demonstrations in Northern California are progressing very positively and are scheduled to submit their final reports by March 31, 1997. Findings will be shared with the public later in 1997.

A sixth agricultural demonstration will be conducted in Southern California with local government financial partners (Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara) over a two-year period. John Menge of U.C. Riverside with the City of San Diego, Ventura Couty, Santa Barbara County, and the Coachella Valley will establish avocado and citrus orchard sites using urban mulch.

The Private Buy Recycled Strategy indicates that both the compost quality standards workshops and the compost demonstration projects need to be completed before any Organics Alliance is formed. The California Compost Quality Council is now under contract with the Board to develop and implement voluntary compost quality guidelines.

Efforts to promote the use of urban compost by California agriculture continue through the Waste Prevention and Market Development Division's compost outreach activities. Staff provides informational handout material at several farm shows and agricultural workshops each year. The need for the formation of an organics alliance or regional alliances will be addressed in the future depending on the success of the other activities fulfilling the same objective.

Building and Construction Alliance

Staff has been working with several local governments, community groups, and trade associations to promote the formation of regional building and construction alliances. Included are alliances in Alameda, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. In each case, the potential to overcome barriers, implement solutions, and then share those approaches statewide appears to be good. To meet this potential, we are convening stakeholders based upon specific projects on a regional basis identified from the entire building and construction arena.

To provide a better foundation for alliance formation, staff is planning to market the Board's RCP Database, and other Buy Recycled Program resources and services related to the use of recycled-content building products. Staff has targeted the Southern California Building Industry Association (BIA) for initial outreach efforts.

Santa Barbara Regional Alliance

Staff has been working in partnership with an existing alliance, the Sustainability Project (TSP) in Santa Barbara. TSP is a consortium of several public and private groups: Committee on the Environment of the Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects; the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara; the Community Environmental Council; and the Renewable Energy Institute (affiliated with California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo).

The primary purposes of the TSP are to promote education and research regarding sustainability, to build community awareness and consensus regarding the elements of sustainability, and to encourage the development of sustainable communities. The TSP Board of Directors includes architects, urban and city planners, interior designers, engineers, building contractors, landscape architects, and government officials.

In June, Buy Recycled staff assisted TSP in organizing and presenting their successful "Green Building Now" Conference and Trade Show in Santa Barbara. Staff contributed to the effort by converting and standardizing hard copy mass mailing lists to electronic databases, designed and printed brochures, performed mass mailings to potential participants, and made follow-up calls to potential exhibitors. In addition, Board staff moderated workshops and assisted in registration duties. The Conference highlighted sustainable building techniques, case studies, construction waste management, and builder programs. About 350 participants attended. In addition, about 50 manufacturers and distributors of sustainable products exhibited at the conference. This conference and vendor show will serve as a model for other communities planning to host sustainability conferences.

Southern California Regional Alliances

Staff has contacted the Southern California chapter of the Building Industry Association (BIA). Staff worked with the BIA on an article promoting the use of RCBPs in their newsletter and informed Chapter members of the availability of the RCP Database. Staff will follow up by contacting each regional chapter to offer a presentation concerning the Board's RCP database, guidelines and information related to the use of RCBPs in sustainable design. Staff hopes to repeat the approach with BIA Chapters and other key building and construction trade organizations throughout California.

Staff is pursuing a partnership with the City of San Diego for the construction of a mobile Environmental Office Display. This project will demonstrate the use of environmentally preferable building materials and office products, including recycled-content products such as those used in the Ridgehaven building retrofit. The Board contributed $10,000 to pay for a portion of the project costs. The display will be constructed on a mobile trailer chassis to allow the exhibit to be towed to various outreach events throughout California. Staff will be negotiating a MOU with the City of San Diego to allow the Board to use the exhibit for three months each year by targeting Northern California events.

Staff is collaborating with the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works to address sustainability in construction and waste management issues for the Playa Vista project. Playa Vista is the largest undeveloped tract in the City limits (1,087 acres) and includes the Ballona Wetlands. Current plans for Playa Vista include the new Dreamworks Studio (600,000 square feet of space), 13,085 high density residential units, 5 million square feet of office and studio space, 600,000 sq ft of neighborhood retail space, 750 hotel rooms, 560,000 sq ft of community buildings, and a new boat basin.

III.  State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign

The public sector consumes approximately 20 percent of the goods in California, and many of these goods are not of recycled content; thus, encouragement of RCP procurement by State agencies could have a major effect. To promote State government purchase of RCPs, the Board is also implementing the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC). State agencies must meet three procurement mandates and report their success in meeting them:

• By January 1, 1997, at least 25 percent of the total fine printing and writing paper purchased or procured shall be recycled paper.
• By January 1, 1997, at least 50 percent of the total dollar amount of paper products purchased or procured shall have recycled content.
• By January 1, 1997, at least 20 percent, and by January 1, 1998, at least 30 percent, and by January 1, 2000, at least 50 percent of the total dollar amount of purchases made by each State agency shall be recycled product purchases. RCPs must be purchased from within the 11 product categories listed in the legislation.

Barriers to RCP procurement are similar in both the public and private sectors: low consumer awareness, inadequate information, and concerns about RCP quality, reliable availability, and competitive prices also exist in the public procurement arena.

To overcome these barriers, staff provides a variety of assistance to State agencies. The Board purchased 120 copies of the Official Recycled Product Guide (RPG) and provided one, free of charge, to each of the state agency contacts that staff has identified. The Board has also created an automated procurement tracking and reporting Application. This Application enables the user to electronically record and report RCP purchases, as well as purchases made from any number of specific companies or types of companies. It can be used to identify and track product preferences, tax, shipping, and/or purchases from target groups such as Small, Disabled Veteran, and Minority Owned Businesses. This Application will also be available, free of charge, to any interested local government agency or private business.

Another developing feature of the SABRC is the advertisement of RCPs available through the Department of General Services (DGS), Office of Procurement. Staff is encouraging the placement of procurement information on DGS's Internet homepage and on the Purchasing Information Network (PIN). Typical information to be listed includes:

• RCPs available from statewide contracts.
• RCPs available from State stores.
• RCPs available from State price schedule.
• RCPs available from the Prison Industry Authority.
• RCPs available from federal contracts.
• RCPs available from California Multiple Awards Schedule.
• Manufacturers, wholesalers, and vendors of RCPs.

The Board is in the process of receiving the second annual Recycled-Content Product Procurement Report in which each State agency reports the RCP purchases made during the previous fiscal year. Eighty-one percent (105/129) of State agencies submitted FY 94/96 reports. Of these reports, 23 percent (24/105) met all three of the procurement mandates. The FY 94/95 reports indicated over $20,000,000 was spent on RCPs. Staff anticipates the FY 95/96 Reports to show an increase in RCP expenditures by state agencies.

IV. Strategies

To further promote the Board's Buy Recycled Program, the Board should undertake the strategies described in this section.

Continue to encourage RCP procurement and the implementation of waste management strategies by the private sector through the formation of alliances. This partnership approach should be cost-effective because it leverages State resources with private sector effort. Primary Board efforts should focus on supporting alliance activities (vendor shows, workshops, developing model programs), and assisting in membership drives and alliance formation initiatives.

When forming new alliances, seek these partnerships with interested and active local governments. Staff has learned that the success of an alliance relies heavily on the involvement of local government. Future alliances should continue to focus on the paper, building and construction, and organics sectors.

Where appropriate, implement the "model green building" approach through the alliances. This is a comprehensive approach where businesses in a business park or office tower each seek to implement strategies through the entire recycling loop-waste prevention to procurement. This approach can result in a greater number of businesses implementing waste management strategies, greater savings seen through avoided disposal costs and recycling revenues, and greater procurement savings. This approach is recommended because it is sometimes difficult to get businesses to attend workshops on recycled content product procurement and waste management strategies. The "model green building" approach may help to overcome this problem.

Maintain the RCP database that currently lists 10,000 recycled-content products and is linked to the Internet. Staff should promote the use of the database as a marketing tool for manufacturers and the use of it as a procurement tool for consumers.

Facilitate limited life cycle analyses for products such as recycled-content latex paint and rubberized asphalt to increase our knowledge of why RCPs should be preferred over virgin products. These findings should then be shared with prospective public and private consumers through the Board's outreach programs.

Work with local governments to identify and eliminate local ordinances and codes that pose barriers to the use of RCPs. Promote or coordinate product testing and specification development for recycled-content building products.

Publicize success stories by continuing to produce case studies on sustainable buildings; procurement successes in the private and public sectors; and model ordinances, contract language, and specifications. Increase publicity for jurisdictions and businesses who are successfully procuring recycled-content products. To highlight successes, use trade journals, press releases, local outreach mechanisms, awards programs of trade associations, etc.

Actively coordinate the implementation of the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign with the Department of General Services. This entails overcoming resistance on the part of DGS to implement this program.

V.  Summary

Barriers to the procurement of recycled-content products (RCP) include: low consumer awareness, inadequate information, and concerns about RCP quality, reliable availability, and competitive prices. Staff recommends the following solutions: continue the implementation of the Private Buy Recycled Strategy and the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign.

These efforts bring stakeholders together to discuss implementation of comprehensive "close the loop" programs from prevention to procurement. The focus is on products made from the largest sectors of the waste stream (paper, building and construction, and organics) and plastics.

* The Recycled Paper Coalition dissolved in March, 2004.

1996 Market Development Plan

Last updated: November 01, 2007