King County Environmental Purchasing Program

1997 Annual Report

Published: September, 1997.

 

The 2002 report is now available

Reports for 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 are also available.

• I. King County Recycled Product Procurement
  • The Policy
  • The Program
  • Implementation
  • The Challenges
  • The Opportunities
• II. Purchases
  • Paper Products
  • Non-Paper Products
• III. Ongoing Program Elements
  • Agency Liaison Network
  • Internet Information Project
  • Public Involvement
  • Publicity
  • King County Policy Revision
  • Model Procurement Policy
  • Related King County programs
• Appendix
  • Procurement Initiatives of Agencies

I. King County Recycled Product Procurement

The King County Recycled Product Procurement Policy (KCC 10.16, Executive Policy CON 7-1-2 (AEP)) directs County agencies to purchase products manufactured with recycled materials "wherever practicable". This annual report summarizes the progress made by the King County Recycled Product Procurement Program in implementation of this policy through June 30, 1997.

The Policy

The policy reflects a long-term commitment on the part of King County to support recycling markets through County purchasing. This program has established King County as a national leader in municipal procurement of recycled materials. The County is maintaining this position of leadership through the efforts and accomplishments of County employees, who are actively pursuing ways to use recycled materials in new applications and working with vendors to refine the manufacture of viable and economical recycled products. This report describes the progress that agencies have made toward the goals of the policy.

The policy was revised and simplified in 1995 in response to enhancements in the guidelines of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to Federal Executive Order 12873, and the experience of five years of implementation by County agencies. These revisions recognized a broader group of "environmentally preferable" products, streamlined the policy, and clarified accountabilities so that further revisions to Federal Guidance can be smoothly accommodated and implementation efforts easily enhanced.

EPA has no plans to "finalize" the proposed guidance, but many of the concepts and principles it contains are being tested for their applicability to purchasing decisions through pilot projects. The program will monitor and communicate information developed by EPA to County users as it becomes available.

The Program

The objective of the Recycled Product Procurement Program is to bring about fundamental change in the procurement priorities of the 10,000-plus employees of the County and its contractors. With the full participation of the people in the agencies who specify products, the County can attain its goal of buying recycled products "wherever practicable." The program supports the efforts of these people by providing information and technical assistance to help them identify economical and effective recycled products and by creating and maintaining contracts for their purchase. It helps agencies understand policy requirements and communicates specifications, contracts, and other practical information between County agencies, vendors, users, and other jurisdictions.

The program's collaborative approach, which provides information and guidance to County employees and relies on their expertise to evaluate procurement opportunities and revise procedures, is gradually changing the way that agencies view these opportunities. They are placing more emphasis on developing ways to increase the use of recycled and other environmentally preferable products, especially where these will reduce costs while still meeting rigorous performance standards.

Implementation

The King County Recycled Product Procurement Policy calls upon each County agency to revise contracting and procurement procedures and specifications to increase the purchase of recycled and other environmentally preferable products. This program helps each agency to:

• evaluate recycled and environmentally preferable products to determine the extent to which they may be effectively used by the agency and its contractors;
• purchase recycled and other environmentally preferable products whenever practicable;
• ensure that contracts issued by the agency require recycled and environmentally preferable material content whenever practicable and that contractors provide certification of this content and report amounts purchased; and
• report the progress of policy implementation, including evaluation results and amounts purchased by the agency and its contractors.

The Procurement Services Division administers the Recycled Product Procurement Program to facilitate the implementation of this policy by agencies. The program:

• coordinates product evaluations by agencies, disseminates evaluation results, and assists agencies in the development of specifications and contracts;
• assembles information about recycled and environmentally preferable products, applications, and vendors and communicates it to agencies;
• reviews procurement opportunities and policy requirements with agencies and monitors the status of policy implementation efforts;
• creates educational opportunities to provide product-information to agency users;
• maintains a world-wide-web site to provide users with information about the performance, cost, and availability of recycled materials, and about policy implementation strategies;
• provides technical support to the outreach programs of the Solid Waste Division, the Department of Natural Resources, the Clean Washington Center, and others, to facilitate the implementation of recycled product procurement policies by suburban cities in King County;
• transmits the annual report of the King County Recycled Product Procurement Program to suburban cities and others to enhance communication between users of recycled products in County agencies and their counterparts in other jurisdictions;
• fulfills the reporting and liaison requirements of Washington State RCW 43.19A, which requires 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.

The Challenges

A number of factors challenge efforts to increase environmentally preferable purchasing:

• the scope of the task of policy implementation nearly doubled in 1996, as the County re-organized to absorb the transit and wastewater functions of the organization formerly known as Metro, requiring new communication channels to be established and existing ones to be renewed;
• 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 history and standards are often unavailable for new recycled product applications;
• developers of recycled products are often in the early stages of identifying the needs of potential customers and establishing the production, marketing, and distribution capacity to meet them;
• many products must meet rigorous standards maintained by various governmental regulators, the modification of these standards is a painstaking and expensive process; and
• after a product is created, standards and specifications are developed, and regulations are met, 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.
• developing and administering data-collection procedures to assemble information from contracts is time-consuming and demands unfamiliar types and levels of involvement from participants.

The Opportunities

The Program and County agencies are addressing these challenges by:

• maintaining and renewing liaisons between all re-organized agencies and the Recycled Product Procurement Program to facilitate policy implementation and data collection;
• 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 results with other agencies, 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 desirable by agency users;
• requiring that recycled products be specified in contracts whenever evaluation establishes that product performance and costs are acceptable; and
• helping potential suppliers obtain feedback from users to assist them in product development and helping them understand King County procurement processes.

II. Purchases

Purchase Summary--Paper Products

Recycled paper is specified for purchase through term-supply contracts. These centrally administered contracts enable agencies to purchase hundreds of paper products at low and consistent prices. They specify recycled paper whenever practicable and non-recycled paper is purchased only if recycled paper is not available within the 15% price-preference guidelines of the policy. Data from 1996/97 indicate the recently streamlined office supply system is maintaining high levels of recycled paper supply.

Recycled paper purchases have grown from 8% at the start of policy implementation in 1989 to 93% in 1996/97, exceeding the 60% goal established by policy. King County agencies purchased recycled paper goods valued at over One Million Dollars in 1996/97. Future purchase levels will fluctuate with variation in product availability and bid results, but program personnel expect to be able to continue to achieve these levels.

The table below shows the dollar value and percentage of total recycled paper purchases for 1996/97 by category.

Purchase Detail - Paper

King County purchases of paper fall into three general categories:

• Photocopy and Bond Paper supplied to County agencies meet or exceed King County minimum recycled content standards in over 99% of purchases. Further, the predominant paper types contain 20%, 25% and 35% post-consumer paper material, exceeding the 10% standard of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the 20% standard established by President Clinton's 1993 Executive Order to all Federally funded agencies.

• Printing by the County Printshop or under contracts administered through the Procurement Services Division uses recycled paper whenever it is available at prices within policy guidelines. During 1996/97, recycled paper purchases reached 93%.

• Other Paper Products purchased include envelopes, boxes, notepads, paper towels and other tissue products. During 1996/97, 87% of all paper products purchased were recycled.

Purchase Summary - Non-Paper Products

The purchase of non-paper recycled-content products is less straightforward than that of paper products: these products are often not well-established in the marketplace and they are typically purchased through complex engineering and construction contracts. Purchases depend on the specifications of designers, based on project-specific materials requirements; acceptance by State, Federal, and other external standards organizations; product performance, price and availability; the ability of contractors to deliver the expertise required for their use; and other factors.

The table below represents non-paper recycled product purchases from term supply and construction contracts, and direct purchases. Term contract purchases are captured through direct-reporting required of vendors by the Recycled Product Procurement Program. The Program's liaison network captures data when agencies purchase products by other means. Such purchases occur in construction or other service contracts, not tied to term supply contracts, or are executed by "direct voucher" for evaluation purposes or for purchases too small for a formal term contract.

The program is helping County agencies institutionalize the routine purchase of recycled materials and in 1996/97 King County purchased non-paper recycled products valued at over $800,000.

Savings Summary

The Recycled Product Procurement Program identifies opportunities for agencies to use recycled materials that reduce expense and meet performance requirements. In 1997, the County saved almost $500,000 by purchasing such materials. This table represents dollars saved in 1997 by commodity.

Purchase Detail - Non-Paper

Purchases of non-paper recycled materials require evaluation and application-development by engineers, architects, and other professionals. This section provides details of some of the ways in which County agencies are addressing the challenges presented by these materials.

• Aggregate Made With Recycled Concrete is used for temporary road surface by the Solid Waste Division and has been used successfully in past County projects for backfill material, as permitted by prevailing engineering standards. Cedar Hills landfill, saved over $20,000 during 1996/97 by using this material in place of increasingly scarce and expensive native rock aggregate. Expenditures by the Division for aggregate in 1996/97 totaled almost $140,000. Roads Division is planning trials of an "asphalt overlay" method that will significantly reduce the amount of material landfilled. When concrete roads are badly deteriorated, They plan to crush the existing concrete roadway, compact the old concrete, and overlay the road with asphalt.

• Aggregate Composed of 100% Recycled Glass has been used in projects of the Solid Waste Division and Roads Division for pipe-bedding and other applications in place of virgin rock aggregate. These applications have often resulted in cost-savings, but are still considered trial uses, since the availability and quality of recycled glass aggregate is highly variable. There were no new uses in 1996/97 by County agencies, but the developer of an upcoming project on King Street, in Pioneer Square, is evaluating this aggregate for drainage or pipe bedding applications. The outcome of this evaluation and the successful use of this material in the King Street project could introduce this opportunity to a broad segment of the local building industry. Roads Division is evaluating the results of it's 1995 use of recycled glass as a fill material and intends to use is again in 1998 projects, if the evaluation results are positive.

• Sand, produced from recycled glass has been developed by a local firm to replace the customary volcanic sand as a traction material for the waterfront trolley system. This material, a finely ground recycled glass made from recycled plate-glass and bottles, is being evaluated as a "traction sand" for use in the braking system of the Waterfront Trolleys. Preliminary results indicate a 75% cost-reduction ($.18/lb for glass vs $.79/lb for volcanic sand), and performance appears to be equal. If the final results are good, the Division plans to continue to purchase it routinely.

  The same company that supplied the glass for the traction grit has also developed a material for use as a sandblasting medium for cleaning machine parts, with a material cost 45% lower, at $0.18 per pound, than the $0.35 per pound cost of the garnet material the Transit Division is accustomed to using. Tests of this material were planned in brake-shoe cleaning operations by Transit Division in 1996/97, but not conducted.

• Antifreeze manufactured with re-refined ethylene glycol has been purchased under a contract maintained by Procurement Services Division since 1991. Motor Pool, Airport, Solid Waste Operations, and the Renton Maintenance Facility used nearly 2300 gallons of re-refined antifreeze in 1996/97 and returned nearly 1,000 gallons of spent antifreeze to the supplier for "closed-loop" re-refining into new antifreeze. This contract also requires that the material be re-refined in a manner that meets all regulatory requirements, thereby avoiding the discharge of a toxic material into local waterways and ensuring compliance with State and Federal regulations.

• Asphalt can be economically and effectively recycled and used for many applications. Roads Division tested recycled asphalt in two internal road projects in 1995 and 1996 and it continues to perform adequately. In 1996, the Division began a long-term evaluation of the effect of various surfacing methods on environmental noise levels. The Regional Justice Center project used asphalt reclaimed during demolition.

• Compost-amended topsoil is specified by Roads Maintenance section, which purchased 300 yards at a cost of $3,500. Roads Engineering section developed and implemented data-collection procedures to capture data on compost usage by contractors (construction contracts) in first quarter of 1997. During the first two quarters, the section reported using 5,733 cubic yards, at an installed cost of $143,325. Sixty-two percent (62%) of the material used was "yard-waste compost" and thirty-eight percent (38%) was "biosolids compost."

• Motor Oil manufactured with re-refined base stock has been used in County vehicles operated by Motor Pool, Renton Maintenance Facility, Stadium Administration, Airport Division and Solid Waste Operations since 1992. These agencies purchased 13,481 gallons of re-refined oil at a cost of nearly $33,000 in 1996-97. Procurement program personnel are continuing to attempt to identify personnel in Transit Division who can conduct evaluations of re-refined oil for use in operations vehicles and the METRO bus fleet.

  The "closed-loop" oil recycling program, under which recycled oil was directed to re-refining, was not offered by bidders for the current contract, so used oil is being recycled by a vendor who supplies it to the "bunker-fuel" market.

  The Renton Maintenance Facility of Fleet Administration Division is evaluating the installation of on-site systems that will allow them to recover the energy from Waste oil to heat shop buildings.

• Paint products with recycled content continue to be evaluated by County agencies as they become available, but few have been judged sufficient in quality, cost, and/or availability for County applications. In 1996, though, a new coating product made with recycled glass was evaluated by the Parks Capital Improvement Program of the Department of Construction and Facilities Management with positive results. The agency used 250 gallons of waterproofing paint, containing 30% recycled glass, in place of the customary elastomeric exterior wall coating, to fill hairline cracks in a cement wall to prevent water seepage at an Enumclaw swimming pool project. The cost of $18 per gallon, $4500 for this project, was equivalent to the expected cost of the usual materials, there were no added costs in application, and the performance was good.

  The Maintenance and Facilities Division of the Department of Parks and Cultural Resources used 20 gallons of recycled interior latex paint from a local vendor in their offices and is planning to test a two-part epoxy exterior paint on picnic tables. Parks personnel have noted that this vendor is the first they have evaluated that is able to match the desired colors. The vendor also accepts left-over and outdated paint for recycling, reducing disposal costs.

  The Kingdome paint shop tested recycled interior latex paint in its administrative offices. The results were good, the paint was economical, and Stadium personnel plan to purchase this paint in the future. They also tested a two-part latex-epoxy (60% recycled content) on the floors and walls of a hallway leading from the athletic locker rooms to the playing field. In this severe-traffic area, the paint was too easily scuffed by the rubber wheels of equipment and rubber shoe-soles. The paint shop Supervisor continues to provide the vendor with advice about product improvement and will evaluate new versions of this paint as they are developed.

• Plastic Products:
  • Can-Liners
    Over 3500 cases of can liners, manufactured with 30% high density polyethylene (HDPE) and 25% low-density polyethylene (LDPE) post consumer recycled plastic were purchased in 1996/97 for over $65,000. In 1996/97, the Renton Maintenance Facility of the Fleet Administration Division purchased almost 25,000 litter bags, manufactured with a minimum of 10% post-consumer plastic, at a cost of $5500. For the fourth consecutive year, the E-911 program of the Emergency Management Division of the Department of Information and Administrative Services purchased 200 cases of litter bags, printed with an educational message, at a cost of $12,800. These bags were manufactured with 25% recycled content and bore the chasing arrows logo.

    Plastic Lumber - Fleet Applications
    The Renton Maintenance Facility of the Fleet Administration Division now specifies recycled plastic lumber for truck-bed sideboards its dump-trucks. When the Division required new trucks to be outfitted with recycled plastic, the truck-equipment vendor adopted this material as a standard option because of its superior performance and lower life-cycle cost. The division is retrofitting all of its virgin-lumber truck equipment with material supplied by this vendor, with expenditures for over 40 sideboards totaling nearly $6,000. Quality old growth fir is scarce and easily damaged, but recycled plastic is very impact resistant. The replacement schedule for these boards has been reduced to 17 a year, compared to 53 a year when wood was used. This represents a savings of $2,500 a year in material costs.

    Plastic Lumber - Parks Applications
    Parks Division purchases plastic lumber for bench slat replacement, bollards, and special utility applications. For many of these applications, plastic lumber is preferred for its resistance to decay, graffiti and chemical damage. This material results in significant cost-savings when used as a substitute for chemically treated lumber in applications involving contact with soil and water and in other harsh environments. Parks Division recently consulted with the Parks Department of the City of Seattle to design and build a kiosk for Luther Burbank Park using a plastic and wood composite material. Parks personnel were pleased with the outcome and expect to develop other applications for it.

    In 1997, a new playground structure installed at Fort Dent by the Parks Division was constructed from 85% recycled material. Design work is being done for the same type of playground structure at Beaver Lake and Lake Wilderness to be installed in 1998.

    Plastic Lumber - Roads Applications
    The Bridge Unit of the Roads Division is testing $7,000 worth of plastic lumber for use in repairing timber bridges. The vendor worked with County engineers to reinforce and modify the product to meet performance requirements. Long-term performance will be monitored in the normal course of Bridge Unit's performance program, but initial results indicate that plastic lumber deflects excessively ("deflection of reinforced recycled plastic lumber is still about 5 times greater than wood"), which will limit its use to applications with low structural requirements. In a November, 1996 report to the Marketing Commission, which funded the project, the unit supervisor wrote "the product certainly has merit, although it is not ideal for the application of replacement of wingwall dimensional lumber". Other user reports indicated that the material was too expensive, was not readily available, and lacked industry standards.

    Plastic Lumber - Stadium Applications
    Stadium Administration Maintenance Division personnel use recycled plastic lumber to replace wooden 4"x4" "channel boards" to secure the Kingdome artificial turf. The performance of this material is superior to that of virgin lumber and has demonstrated a longer replacement schedule and lower life cycle cost. The Kingdome saves over $5,000 each year by using this material. This application has generated interest from stadia around the country and has been adopted by both the Minneapolis Metrodome and B.C. Place in Vancouver B.C. Canada. The stadium has also used recycled plastic for sign-blanks and for "skid pads" for the feet of portable bleachers, both with good results.

    Plastic Lumber - Transit Applications
    Transit Division has adopted the use of recycled plastic lumber with 50% wood fiber as an element in the fabrication of its bus shelters, replacing the "clear" Douglas Fir formerly used. This application may consume significant amounts of material, as Transit Division maintains over 6,000 shelters. The Division purchased 275 boards for $5500 last year.

     

• Shredded Wood Waste from land clearing debris is used by the Solid Waste Division for temporary road surface at the Cedar Hills Landfill. This material, as well as recycled concrete aggregate, is used to provide stable driving-surfaces, especially during rainy seasons. The landfill purchased over 130,000 yards of this material, at a cost of over $170,000, in 1996-97.

  A demonstration of shredded wood-waste at the King County Jail led to a collaboration between the vendor and the West-Point wastewater treatment facility of the Department of Natural Resources. The producer has opened a new market based on the product developed through that collaboration and is experiencing steady growth in sales of this product. This development, in turn, prompted the Department of Construction and Facilities Management to purchase over 600 cubic yards of this material, at a cost of nearly $5,000, for a holding area for nursery-stock at the King County Airport, mulch around the Administration Building, and other applications.

• Rubber Chips, made of processed waste-tire material, are used in regular maintenance of play-area cover by the Parks Division. Not only does this product meet the safety and performance standards set by Parks Division, it also used rubber derived largely from Washington state waste tires. Parks Division also purchases recycled rubber mats to use as backstop padding in ball parks. In 1997, the Division began trials of wood-fiber in new play-area installations.

• Tire Rubber
  In the summer of 1996, a contractor to Solid Waste Division used 100 mats, each created by "stitching" slabs of recycled tires into 5-foot by 10-foot sections, in a project at a landfill on Vashon Island. These portable and reusable temporary road mats are easily installed to provide traction for trucks in muddy conditions, minimize erosion, and save time and money.

• Tire Retreading services worth over $82,000 were used to retread tires for trucks and other heavy equipment at the Renton Maintenance Facility, Fleet Division and the Cedar Hills Landfill, Solid Waste Division. Retreading a tire costs 50% less than buying a new tire. This prevents landfill disposal of tires and saved the County over $80,000 in 1996/97.

• Toner Cartridges for laser printers are purchased under a contract developed in collaboration with local vendors and maintained by the Recycled Product Procurement Program. Cartridges supplied under this contract must meet original equipment standards and provide full guarantees for performance and equipment damage. The specifications are stringent and no damage has been attributed to cartridge failure in the six year history of the contracts. Specifications are updated when rebid to add newly available products and reflect changes in remanufacturing technology. County purchases of more than 3,000 cartridges, at a cost of approximately $120,000, saved over $230,000 in 1996-97, as the cost is about one third the cost of new cartridges. Spent cartridges are remanufactured and all components are recycled when their useful life is over, reducing the landfill disposal of hazardous material.

III Other Program Elements

Agency Liaison Network Activities

The Recycled Product Procurement Program helps agencies develop practicable and fiscally responsible ways to increase the use of recycled products. It provides them with recycled product information through a network of people who act as liaisons between the program and the agencies. It also uses that network to share evaluation results and specifications that have been developed by users between agencies and makes them available to suburban cities and other jurisdictions. It also helps agencies create evaluation opportunities and revise contract administration procedures to develop ways to routinely use recycled materials whenever practicable.

During the past two years, the re-organization of King County agencies to incorporate those formerly within the METRO organization nearly doubled the number of employees in the County to 12,000, making it necessary to establish new liaisons and renew existing ones in reorganized agencies.

Special Information Programs

The program hosted informational tours, meetings, and other events to provide information on recycled product procurement opportunities to agencies:

• Recycled glass for traction and sandblasting applications
• Recycled plastic lumber - wetlands bridge at Thornton Creek

Program personnel previewed sites for planning future tours:

• Recycled paint - Kingdome
• Recycled wood waste - King County Airport
• Recycled plastic lumber - Golden Gardens Park boardwalk, Seattle
• Recycled plastic lumber - Kiosk at Luther Burbank Park, Mercer Island
• Recycled glass content paint - King County pool, Enumclaw
• Recycled materials, several - Regional Justice Center, Kent

E-Mail Procurement Bulletin

The Program initiated routine distribution of information about opportunities to purchase environmentally preferable products by e-mail. Recipients include all participants in the program's County liaison network, as well as other interested parties in King County and elsewhere.

An archive of bulletins is available on the World-Wide-Web

King Street Project The Department of Construction and Facilities Management is overseeing a private development project to construct a new facility in which the County Departments of Transportation and Natural Resources plan to become tenants. The design calls for an eight-story, 300,000 square-foot building, to be situated on King Street, in Pioneer Square. The Recycled Product Procurement Program has developed information about recycled materials for evaluation by the architect, developer, and their contractors. The Department of Natural Resources has asked the developer to try to adhere to a number of environmentally-preferable building principles in this project, including the use of several recycled materials. The Department is applying for funding to produce guidelines for environmentally preferable building that could be useful to County agencies in future projects and could be further developed as a model to the community. Material selection will take place over the next 2 years and the building is expected to be occupied in late 1999. The King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials plans to develop interpretive materials to share the messages of environmentally preferable building practices with the community.

Internet Information Project

The King County Recycled Product Procurement Program maintains a site on the world-wide web as a resource to participants in the King County program as well as others in the community.

Municipalities and other organizations throughout the nation are beginning to recognize the difference they can make to the environment by purchasing environmentally preferable products. Thanks to the leadership of King County agencies, purchasers are now able to use the internet to find information that will help them understand their opportunities in this confusing new area. Over 15,000 visitors entered this web site in the six months from January through June of 1997, more than twice the number of visits during that period last year. People from all over the world are taking advantage of this site and these contacts are bringing new information that County agencies, suburban cities, and others can use as we all try to develop new applications for recycled and other environmentally preferable products.

In 1996/97, the web-site was reorganized, the model policy was broadened to include a greater range of environmentally preferable materials, and several new "fact sheets" were developed.

Web-site contents:

• King County recycled product procurement program annual reports (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997)
• King County recycled product procurement policy
• Model policy and implementation guide (Updated 1997)
• King County recycled product contracts list
• Contract language for buy-recycled contracts
• Information resources for buyers
• Specifications for recycled construction and landscaping materials:
  • Aggregate, Recycled Glass
  • Aggregate, Recycled Concrete
  • Asphalt, Recycled
  • Compost as Organic Soil Amendment
  • Hog Fuel (Shredded Wood-Waste)
  • Paint, Recycled
  • Plastic "Lumber" and other recycled plastic products
  • Recycling and Waste Management During Construction
  • Tire-rubber Materials and Products
• Specifications for recycled automotive and office products:
  • Antifreeze, Re-Refined
  • Laser Printer Toner Cartridges, Remanufactured
  • Motor Oil, Re-Refined
  • Paper, Recycled
  • Plastic can-liners, Recycled
  • Tire Retreading and Retreads
• Product performance summaries
  • Aggregate, Recycled Concrete:
    • Temporary Road Base at the Cedar Hills Landfill
    • Crushed Rock Surfacing at the Houghton Custodial Landfill
    • Crushed Rock Surfacing at the Puyallup/Kit Corner Custodial Landfill
    • Structural Fill at the Regional Justice Center
  • Aggregate, Recycled Glass:
    • Pipe Bedding at the Houghton Custodial Landfill
    • Pipe Bedding at the Puyallup/Kit Corner Custodial Landfill
    • Recycled Glass Cullet as Retaining Wall Backfill (Roads Division)
  • Asphalt, Recycled:
    • Utility Road (Roads Division)
    • Road Base at the Regional Justice Center
  • Compost:
    • Compost (biosolids) Amended Topsoil at the West Point Treatment Plant
  • Paint, Recycled
    • Recycled glass-content paint at the King County Enumclaw Pool
    • Recycled latex paint at the Kingdome
    • Recycled content epoxy paint at the Kingdome
  • Plastic Lumber, Recycled:
    • Artificial turf system elements at the Kingdome
    • Truck Sideboards at the Renton Maintenance Facility
    • Bench Slats at Redondo Beach Park
  • Wood Waste, Recycled:
    • Temporary Road Base at the Cedar Hills Landfill
    • Landscape Mulch at the West Point Sewage Treatment Plant
    • Landscape Mulch at the King County Airport
  • Links to web-sites relevant to environmentally preferable procurement

Printed copies of this information may be obtained from the program. Send requests by e-mail or call (206) 296-4210.

Public Involvement

The King County Recycled Product Procurement Program offers its experience in support of the planning, policy-development, and procurement education activities of various organizations, and jurisdictions. Program personnel participated in the delivery of public information and technical assistance programs conducted by the following organizations during 1996-97:

• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM):
  Served on Committee D06, Paper and Paper Products Subcommittee D06.40, developing a standard terminology for recycled paper

• National Association of Counties (NACO):
  Presented King County Model Policy and experience to NACO workgroup in Washington D.C. for development of environmentally preferable procurement guidelines.

• Recyclers United Network (RUN):
  Review of King County procurement program results and plans

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
  Participated in an EPA project to develop Waste Reduction Procurement guidelines for municipal governments  Presented information to EPA region 10 conference.

• TEEM'96:
  The Energy and Environmental Management Conference

• Washington State Recycling Association (WSRA):
  Presented information to WSRA annual membership meeting

• Waste Information Network (WIN):
  Presented information to WIN attendees in the session "Using the Internet for Research and Marketing"

The program provides technical assistance to users by telephone, fax, mail, and e-mail, as well as through the internet. The program provided assistance to, and exchanged information with, several suburban cities in King County, as well as state and federal agencies, and other users.

Publicity

A key to the success of the King County Recycled Product Procurement Program has been the exchange of practical information with other users of these unfamiliar materials. Many of these exchanges have come as a consequence of exposure through national magazines, newspapers, and other publications. Among the publications which featured the King County Recycled Product Procurement Program in 1996/97 were:

• BioCycle: November, 1996
  "Recycled Product Procurement on the Web" detailed the County program web-site, giving special attention to information contained in the annual report.

• Data Sources Directory for Purchasing Officials: July, 1996
  Published by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for the Energy-Efficient Procurement Collaborative

• Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program: September 1996
  Published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "A Study of State and Local Government Procurement Practices that Consider Environmental Performance of Goods and Services."

• Government Procurement Magazine: Interviewed for an article planned for August, 1997.

• Resource Recycling: March, 1997
  Feature contained a detailed description of the King County web-site, citing it as "a great model of how to organize & present information."

• Resource Recycling: November, 1996
  "The road to buy recycled success: Gaining acceptance by users" - Article by Leo Griffin (Program Liaison with Roads Division), Karen Hamilton, and Eric Nelson. The article also publicized the web-site.

• Seattle Post Intelligencer: August, 1996
  WashPIRG cited the County's strong recycled product procurement program.

• Waste Age's Recycling Times: July 1996
  "Treasure-trove of data here..." highlighted web-site

King County Policy Revision

The King County Recycled Product Procurement Policy (Executive Policy CON 7-1-2, A/EP) was revised in 1995 to accommodate changes to the procurement guidelines of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and to reflect the County's four years of experience in policy implementation. The policy now enables the County to use the mechanisms developed by the Recycled Product Procurement Program to increase the procurement of other "environmentally preferable" products and expand the commitment of County agencies to other environmentally preferable initiatives such as reduction of the use of toxic materials, waste-reduction, energy conservation, "green-building," etc.

The revised policy is available on the World-Wide-Web at:

http://www.metrokc.gov/procure/green/policy.htm

In 1996-97, the program began to research environmentally preferable procurement opportunities beyond recycled content products. For example, it provided information to agencies, through the liaison network, on recycling of fluorescent lamps, energy efficient lighting and air conditioning, and on recycling hard-to-recycle items.

Model Procurement Policy

Program personnel continued to promote the development of recycled and environmentally preferable procurement policies in suburban cities by providing technical support to the Solid Waste Division's Waste Reduction/Recycling Section. The model was revised in 1997 to broaden the range of environmentally preferable products. Program personnel also provide direct technical assistance to suburban cities for policy implementation, including sharing contracts, specifications, and procurement strategies.

Solid Waste Division reported that nineteen suburban cities had adopted recycled product procurement policies based on the King County model as of July, 1997:

Related King County programs

King county agencies support markets for recycled materials by participating in the Recycled Product Procurement Program. Other County programs making important contributions include:

• Construction, Demolition and Landclearing (CDL) Debris Program, Solid Waste Division: assists County businesses and agencies in management of construction waste. Also involved in environmentally-preferable building initiatives. In 1997, this agency is sponsoring a sustainable building conference.

• Employee Recycling Program, Department of Construction and Facilities Management: Coordinates the in-house recycling program for 12,000 King County employees. Also encourages waste reduction.

• GreenWorks, Business Recycling Program, Solid Waste Division: provides technical assistance to County businesses to establish waste reduction, recycling and buy recycled practices. Then recognizes these businesses for their efforts. In 1997, the GreenWorks program will add County agencies to the recognition list.

• Hazardous Waste Program, Solid Waste Division: Coordinates special collection events and provides hazardous-waste information to businesses and citizens.

• Industrial Materials Exchange (IMEX), Department of Public Health: Produces a catalogue to encourage waste exchanges, avoiding landfill disposal of surplus materials and creating opportunities for recycling and reuse.

• King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials, Department of Natural Resources: Assists County businesses in carrying and marketing recycled products.

• Kingdome, Department of Stadium Administration: Event-waste recycling, on-site worm-composting, buying recycled products.

• Roads Division, Department of Transportation: Coordinated Reduction of Waste (CROW) program, reduces waste in Division projects through recycling, reuse and buying recycled.

• Transit Division, Department of Transportation: reduces waste and finds markets for hard to recycle items unique to transit operations.

Appendix: Environmentally Preferable Procurement Initiatives of Agencies

All King County agencies purchase recycled paper products, remanufactured toner cartridges, and recycled office supplies, through contracts maintained by the Recycled Product Procurement Program. In addition, County agencies are participating in the development of applications for a wide range of other materials by conducting pilot-projects and evaluations.

Department of Construction & Facilities Management

Airport Division

recycled paint

recycled plastic can liners

remanufactured antifreeze

re-refined oil

recycled wood mulch

 

Regional Justice Center

recycling on site

recycled asphalt

recycled concrete aggregate

topsoil containing compost

 

Facilities Maintenance

recycled paint

recycled plastic can liners

recycled shredded wood mulch

Parks, CIP

recycled glass-content paint

Department of Natural Resources

Solid Waste Division, Engineering)

recycled asphalt

recycled concrete aggregate

recycled glass aggregate

topsoil containing compost

 

Solid Waste Division, Cedar Hills Landfill

recycled concrete aggregate

remanufactured antifreeze

re refined oil

shredded wood waste

tire retreading services

 

Water Pollution Control

biosolids compost

Department of Parks & Cultural Resources

Maintenance & Facilities

recycled paint

recycled plastic can liners

recycled plastic bollards

recycled plastic lumber

recycled rubber mats

rubber chips (playground)

Department of Stadium Administration

Maintenance/Operations

recycled paint

recycled plastic can liners

recycled plastic lumber

recycled plastic signs

recycled plastic worm bins

remanufactured antifreeze

re-refined oil

rubber mats

Department of Transportation

Roads Division

recycled asphalt

recycled concrete aggregate

recycled glass aggregate

recycled plastic bollards

recycled plastic lumber

recycled plastic picnic table

recycled plastic traffic cones

remanufactured computer disks

topsoil containing compost

tire stops

traffic delineators

 

Fleet Administration, ER&R

recapped tires

recycled plastic can liners

recycled plastic lumber

re-refined oil

remanufactured antifreeze

recycled tire-rubber wheel chocks

 

Fleet Administration, Motor Pool

remanufactured antifreeze

re-refined oil

 

Transit Division

recycled plastic lumber

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