King County Environmental Purchasing Program

1993/94 Annual Report

Published: September, 1994

 

The 2003 report is now available

Reports for 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 are also available.

 

King County Recycled Product Procurement

• Overview: King County Recycled Product Procurement
  • The Recycled Product Procurement Policy
    • The Successes
    • The Challenges
    • The Opportunities
    • The Program
  • Paper Products
    • Purchase and Evaluation Status
    • Paper Product Purchase Summary
  • Non-Paper Products
    • Purchase and Evaluation Status
    • Non-Paper Product Purchase Summary
• Other Program Elements
  • Departmental Liaison Network
  • Specification and Contract Development
  • Model Procurement Policy and Support for Jurisdictions
  • Public Information and Interest Group Participation

Overview: King County Recycled Product Procurement

The Recycled Product Procurement Policy

The King County Recycled Product Procurement Policy provides that "all departments shall, whenever practicable, use recycled products and recyclable products to meet their needs." The policy, one of the first of its kind in the nation, was adopted in 1989, establishing King County as an early leader in efforts to support recycling markets through the purchase of products containing recycled materials.

King County is maintaining this position of leadership through the efforts and accomplishments of County employees, who are actively pursuing ways to increase their purchase of recycled products and develop new applications for recycled materials. These accomplishments do not often come easily, they represent the fruit of concerted effort and persistence on the part of many people throughout County government. This report describes the progress that the people of King County agencies have made toward the ambitious goals of the policy.

The Successes

Recycled Paper Purchases 1990-1994 (Percentage)
        90/91     56.3%
        91/92     67.9%
        92/93     78.5%
        93/94     85.7%

   Non-Paper Purchases (Dollars)
        90/91  $264,196
        91/92  $394,421
        92/93  $501,243
        93/94  $641,104

The Challenges
Challenges facing the use of recycled products:

• project managers, designers, and contractors are not familiar with the use of recycled products and are uncertain of the ways in which they might be effectively specified and applied as substitutes for familiar products.
• performance data is often unavailable for recycled products in new applications.
• developers of recycled products are often in the early stages of identifying the needs of their potential customers and establishing the production, marketing, and distribution capacity to meet them.
• construction products must meet rigorous standards maintained by a variety of governmental regulators. The modification of these standards is a painstaking and expensive process.
• after a product is created and specifications are developed, the use of the product must be economically responsible; the cost must be competitive and contractors must have developed the processes and skills needed for its economical use.

The Opportunities
King County is addressing these challenges by:

• actively seeking new applications for recycled products and encouraging contractors to use products containing recycled material whenever possible;
• evaluating recycled product performance in new applications through testing and pilot programs and sharing the result with other jurisdictions and users;
• assembling specific application information and performance data from product users and manufacturers and disseminating this to potential users in the County;
• developing specifications for the procurement of recycled products when their use is found to be practicable;
• requiring that recycled products be specified in contracts whenever evaluation establishes that product performance and costs are acceptable; and
• helping potential suppliers understand King County procurement processes.

The Program
The King County Recycled Product Procurement Policy calls upon each County department to evaluate its opportunities for the use of products manufactured with recycled materials and to revise contracting and procurement procedures and specifications to increase the purchase of recycled products. In the implementation of this policy, each department:

• evaluates recycled products to determine the extent to which they may be used by the department and its contractors;
• purchases recycled products and recyclable products whenever practicable;
• ensures that contracts issued by the department require recycled material content whenever practicable and that contractors provide certification of this content and reports of amounts purchased; and
• reports the progress of policy implementation, including evaluation results and volumes purchased by the department and its contractors.

To facilitate departmental implementation of this policy, the Recycled Product Procurement Program is maintained in the Purchasing Agency. In the implementation of this policy, the program:

• assembles information about recycled products, vendors and educational opportunities and communicates it to agencies;
• reviews procurement opportunities and policy requirements with departments and monitors the status of policy implementation efforts;
• provides technical support to King County agencies for implementation of the Recycled Product Procurement Policy, disseminates evaluation results, and assists in the development of procurement specifications;
• provides technical support to the outreach programs of the Solid Waste Division to encourage the adoption of recycled product procurement policies by suburban cities in King County;
• fulfills the reporting and liaison requirements of Washington State RCW 43.19A, requiring recycled product procurement and reporting by local governments; and
• coordinates development and implementation of procurement guidelines, preferential procurement procedures, and minimum content standards, and recommends revisions of policy.

Purchase and Evaluation Status
Recycled paper purchases have grown from 8% at the start of policy implementation to 91% at the end of 2nd quarter 1994, exceeding the 1994 policy goal of 30% and the 60% goal for 1995. Over 97% of photocopy paper purchased was recycled paper in second quarter, all printing contracts specify recycled paper whenever available, and contractors to the County are required to use recycled paper for all printing. Total purchases for 1993-94 averaged over 85%.

Computer Paper with recycled content is supplied to users of fanfold paper.

Corrugated Storage Boxes with recycled content have completely replaced non-recycled boxes supplied through Purchasing Stores in the past year.

Envelopes with recycled content are purchased whenever a suitable product is available within price-preference guidelines. Glassine (recyclable cellulose) and cut-out envelope windows are used in place of plastic whenever possible.

Miscellaneous Paper Product purchases, including paper towels and other tissue products, reached 97% in second quarter. King County Motor Pool and Parks continued to purchase specialty towels containing 100% recycled material (40% post-consumer). A new paper products contract awarded by Facilities Management Division increased the number of recycled-content janitorial paper products from six to thirteen, with many of these containing high levels of post-consumer material.

Purchasing Stores supplies recycled scratchpads, file folders, and other items.

Photocopy and Bond Paper supplied to nearly all County users meets or exceeds King County Minimum Recycled Content Standards and in second quarter, 1994, recycled paper purchases climbed to 97%. The two predominant papers purchased include 25% and 30% post-consumer paper material, exceeding the 10% standard of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the 20% standard established under executive order by the Clinton administration. The quality of these recycled papers meet the needs of the County's most demanding users.

Printing by Contractors, administered through the Purchasing Agency, uses recycled paper whenever it is available at prices within policy guidelines. All tax statement envelopes mailed by the Office of Finance now carry the chasing arrow logo to every property in the County, as do mailings of ballots, pet-license forms, and most other forms and envelopes used by County agencies. By second quarter, 1994, 90% of contracted printing was on recycled paper, including all public education materials produced by Surface Water Management, Solid Waste Division, and others.

Printing by the County Printshop uses recycled paper whenever possible. The printshop continues to work closely with the Purchasing Agency to obtain and test new recycled products as they become available.

Stationery and business cards for all County departments are printed on recycled paper and the Printshop maintains a set of recycled paper samples to assist departments in selecting paper. Over 75% of the printing done by the Printshop uses recycled paper.

Paper Product Purchase Summary
Recycled paper is purchased whenever practicable, with non-recycled paper purchased only when recycled paper is not available within price-preference guidelines. Overall recycled paper use stood at 91% at the end of second quarter, 1994, exceeding the 30% goal established by the policy. The overall total for 1993-94 averaged over 85%. It is expected to fluctuate with bid results but remain at generally high levels in the future.

This table shows the dollar value of recycled product paper purchases for each quarter and the percentage of total purchases that consisted of recycled products within each product type.

Purchase and Evaluation Status
Departments are required to evaluate potential recycled products and purchase them whenever performance is satisfactory and price is within policy guidelines. Many departments have responded creatively to the challenge of bringing change to long-standing materials specifications and have maintained over 70 contracts which include recycled products in the past year. Supply and service contracts also require contractors to use recycled materials where practicable and to report the volumes of recycled and non-recycled products purchased by County departments.

Aggregate Composed of 100% Recycled Glass was specified for pipe-bedding by Solid Waste Division in two projects to be completed in the summer of 1994. Over 1,000 cubic yards of mixed glass, otherwise destined for sanitary-landfill disposal, is being utilized in these projects and valuable data on the engineering properties of this material is being generated. Information, demonstrating the feasibility of the use of glass as an aggregate, was provided to County engineers at a recent presentation of results from a glass feedstock evaluation conducted by the Clean Washington Center of the Washington State Department of Trade and Economic Development. The specification of this material in County projects is leading the community in another step toward the development of economically viable aggregates containing recycled glass. In addition to the work by Solid Waste Division, personnel of the Materials Testing Laboratory of Roads Division plan to test these materials as trial applications are undertaken by Roads Division.

Aggregate made with Recycled Concrete is used by the Solid Waste Division for temporary road surface and by Roads Maintenance Section in a small number of other applications, as permitted by prevailing roads engineering standards.

Significant increase in the use of this material in construction applications is possible as departments develop specifications for appropriate applications. Solid Waste Division has specified the use of over 1,300 yards of recycled concrete aggregate in two current projects and will evaluate these uses in the Summer of 1994.

Antifreeze manufactured with re-refined ethylene glycol has been purchased by the County for over three years. Almost 1,500 gallons were used this year by Motor Pool, Airport, Solid Waste Operations, and Equipment Rental and Repair. Spent antifreeze is returned to the supplier for "closed-loop" re-refining into new antifreeze in a manner that meets all regulatory requirements, thereby avoiding the discharge of a toxic material into County waters.

Asphalt made from recovered material was evaluated by Roads Division, which used approximately 1,200 tons in a pilot project. They found that the material performed satisfactorily and provided a cost-effective alternative to new asphalt. Roads Division is exploring additional opportunities for the use of this material.

Compost can be used as an organic amendment when topsoils require amendment. The Engineering Services Section of Roads Division has developed a specification that includes compost for one of the two primary topsoil mixes specified in County Roads projects and is conducting evaluations to determine the extent to which compost may be included in the other primary topsoil type. Roads Maintenance Section specifies the use of compost whenever it purchases organically amended topsoil. Compost-amended topsoil purchases for 1993-94 totalled over 2,500 yards.

Under a grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology, the King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials is administering a major research project that will include laboratory analyses and growth trials to provide basic data to specification writers. Results are expected in the coming year.

Ground Wood Waste from land clearing debris, sold as "hog fuel", is used by Solid Waste Division for temporary road surface at the Cedar Hills Landfill.

Motor Oil blended with a re-refined base stock is used in County vehicles operated by Motor Pool, Equipment Rental and Repair, Stadium Administration, Airport Division and Solid Waste Operations. The product-lines available in re-refined oil have expanded this year and re-refined oil is now purchased in all three of the most-used grades. In addition to these grades, hydraulic oil, blended with a re-refined base stock, has been purchased by the King County Airport. In the past year, Solid Waste Operations has travelled over two million miles in their cars and trucks using re-refined oil and Motor Pool has put nearly thirteen million miles on their fleet. To promote the use of this oil, a bumper sticker proclaiming "Follow my lead, use re-refined oil" is placed on County vehicles.

Paint made by reprocessing household and industrial waste paint represents a significant opportunity for the reduction of hazardous waste and hazardous waste disposal costs. Several contracts have been established for recycled latex paint and departments have been asked to seek opportunities to conduct trials of this material. Public Works Department used approximately 100 gallons of recycled latex paint in remodeling the County building housing the Director's office, with satisfactory results.

Plastic Products, made with recycled plastic:
Can-liners for refuse cans, manufactured with 30% high-density polyethylene(HDPE) post-consumer recycled plastic have been supplied to County agencies in seven sizes for over three years. Recently, Stadium Administration tested newly available low-density polyethylene (LDPE) bags with 50% recycled plastic, 25% post-consumer material, with good results. Bid specifications were revised to reflect the new availability of this product and both HDPE and LDPE bags were brought under contract. Bid responses indicated a significant increase in the availability of recycled content products since the last solicitation. The award of this bid means that 100% of the thirteen can-liners now on term-supply contract contain recycled material.

Litter bags were purchased by the Renton Equipment Stores unit of Fleet Administration. The 45,000 bags in this special purchase were made of 100% recycled plastic, 20% post-consumer material.

Plastic lumber Picnic Tables and Benches have been purchased by Parks Division for evaluation at Marymoor Park under a grant administered by the Waste Reduction and Recycling Section of the Solid Waste Division. They have found that appearance and performance was satisfactory for some products, but not for others. The costs substantially exceed those of customary wood tables and benches and Parks personnel do not plan to continue the purchase of plastic tables and benches at this time, but will continue to evaluate new products as they become available.

Plastic-lumber Products of other kinds are also becoming available. The durability and low toxicity of recycled plastic makes it a useful substitute for chemically treated lumber in soil and water contact applications such as fence-posts and retaining walls.

Parks Division purchased several hundred pieces of plastic lumber for evaluation as tire-stops, bollards, posts for recycling containers, and for repair of picnic tables.

Appearance and performance was satisfactory for some applications, but not for others. As with tables, the cost substantially exceeded the cost of customary materials and Parks personnel do not plan to continue its use, but will evaluate new products as they become available. Stadium Administration, Maintenance Division personnel purchased over 200 pieces of recycled plastic lumber to replace the wooden "channel boards" that secure the Astroturf. The performance of this material has proven superior to that of virgin wood lumber and it is expected to have a longer replacement schedule and a lower life-cycle cost. They have also purchased recycled plastic for fence slats, restroom partitions, worm bins, signage, and "skid pads" for the feet of portable bleachers, all with good results.

Plastic Traffic Control Equipment was purchased by the Traffic and Planning and Roadside Safety sections of Roads Division. They purchased recycled plastic traffic delineators, traffic cones, and channelizers manufactured with recycled tire-rubber bases. All of these performed satisfactorily.

Plastic Bollards, made of recycled plastic are being evaluated by Roads Division.

Computer Disks. recovered as surplus from software publishers are re-formatted by a local firm. The Department of Development and Environmental Services saved money on computer supplies with the purchase of over 1,500 re-formatted diskettes.

Rubber Chips made of processed waste-tire material are used by Parks Division as play area cover. Not only does this product meet the safety and performance standards set by Parks Division, it also uses rubber derived largely from Washington state waste tires. Parks Division also purchases recycled rubber mats to use as backstop padding in ball parks.

Toner Cartridges for laser printers, remanufactured by a local vendor to meet original equipment standards, are supplied to all County departments. The cost is less than half the cost of new cartridges and County departments saved over $100,000 through the purchase of remanufactured cartridges in 1993-94. Spent cartridges are collected by the vendor for remanufacturing and all components are recycled when their useful life is over, avoiding the landfill disposal of hazardous material.

Non-Paper Product Purchase Summary
This table represents the quantity and dollar amount of non-paper recycled products purchased on term supply contracts. Departments purchase many products for evaluation purposes in quantities too small to require the execution of a contract through the Purchasing Agency and information relating to these purchases may be found in the text.

Other Program Elements

Departmental Liaison Network
Significant increases in recycled product procurement will occur as a part of a long-term process that engages the expertise and creativity of the users and specifiers of products. The Recycled Product Procurement Program provides departments with recycled product information through a network of people who act as liaisons between the program and the departments. The program ensures that evaluation results and specifications developed by users are shared between departments and made available to suburban cities and other jurisdictions. It also assists departments in creating evaluation opportunities and revising contract administration procedures to develop methods that will ensure the routine use of recycled materials whenever practicable.

Specification and Contract Development
Construction projects, particularly in Public Works, represent major opportunities for the use of recycled content construction materials. Many of the potential applications, however, occur in intricate administrative and regulatory environments. As a result, and because project managers, architects, and contractors have little experience with these products, the challenges facing the specification of these materials are substantial. Revision of contract documents to include recycled materials can occur only when the agencies involved have evaluated the use of specific materials in specific applications and developed contract specifications. County agencies are revising construction design and contracting processes to increase the specification of recycled material as opportunities are identified and information is provided to them. For example, Roads Division now uses topsoils containing compost and Solid Waste Division is using recycled glass in construction aggregates.

Model Procurement Policy and Support for Other Jurisdictions
Program personnel promoted the development of recycled product procurement policies by suburban cities by providing technical support to Waste Reduction/Recycling Section in revision, distribution, and support of the King County Model Recycled Product Procurement Policy. An abbreviated version of the model policy, developed in 1992, is distributed by Waste Reduction/Recycling Section for use by smaller jurisdictions, businesses, and school districts. Program personnel also provide direct technical assistance to suburban cities for policy implementation, including sharing contracts, specifications, and procurement strategies.

Public Information and Interest Group Participation
The King County Recycled Product Procurement Program offers its experience in support of recycled product procurement education and the development of procurement policies by other organizations and jurisdictions.

Program personnel represented the Purchasing Agency in support of various organizations and activities during 1993-94:

• ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials): Committee D06, Paper and Paper Products Subcommittee D06.40, developing a standard terminology for recycled paper
• Clean Washington Center, Washington State Department of Trade and Economic Development: Evaluation panel for market development grants Presentation to Assn of Community College Officials
• International Plant Propagators Society: Presentation at annual meeting: "Buying Recycled is Good Business!"
• King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials: Presentations to and participation in various committees and public forums
• King County Department of Metropolitan Services (METRO): Consultations on policy development with METRO procurement personnel
• King County Solid Waste Division: Presentation to Waste Reduction/Recycling Workshop for school districts Presentations to suburban cities recycling coordinators Presentations to employee recycling coordinators
• National Association of Counties: Review of King County procurement program results at annual meeting
• National Recycling Coalition: Presentation to annual congress on King County programs
• Port of Seattle: Consultations on procurement policy implementation with Port procurement personnel
• Recyclers United Network: Review of King County procurement program results
• Washington State Department of Ecology: Procurement policy committee with Department of General Administration and Clean Washington Center
• Waste Information Network: Presentations to procurement workshop

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Updated: December, 1999

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