Step 6: Buying Recycled

Buying recycled products creates demand for the recyclables that your business collects.

Why Buy Recycled?
Collection of recyclables is only part of the economic process that makes recycling successful. The other key activities are reprocessing the materials into new products and selling these products in the marketplace. If no one buys recycled-content products, there will be no demand for the cans, bottles and paper that your business generates and the prices paid for these materials will fall accordingly. This relationship explains why it is important for your business to buy recycled-content products.

What Products are Available?
Interesting new products are being manufactured from your recyclables and turning up in the marketplace. Products range from ordinary writing paper to decorative glass tiles. The list on the following page provides some examples.

Look for products with high "post-consumer content." Post-consumer means that the item's recycled content comes from products that have been previously used and sent for recycling. Pre-consumer content refers to material that has never been sold to consumers, but collected from factory processes and reused to make products. For most printing and writing paper, look for at least 20% post-consumer content.

How to Buy Recycled Products
Talk with whoever purchases your supplies and also sit down with your vendors. Recycled-content products can have equal or superior quality to virgin material products. As with any purchase, it is important to assess the quality of each product on an individual basis.

Sometimes, purchasing policies are so strict that they needlessly exclude the consideration of some recycled products. Review your existing purchasing policies to assure they do not prevent the purchase of these goods. Specify the use of recycled-content products in all printing and janitorial contracts. State that your organization expects vendors to supply products with recycled content.