King County Environmental Purchasing Program

Procurement Program Eases (King) County into Buying Recycled

By Katherine K. Frisch, Editor, Government Procurement Magazine

Published: August, 1997

The following article is reprinted by permission of Government Procurement Magazine

Even before King County, WA, created the Recycled Product Procurement Program, recycled products and materials were popping up in offices and the Purchasing Stores. Since then, the county has taken on a leadership role in developing applications for recycled products.

The program's original policy was derived in 1989 from publications of the Environmental Protective Agency (EPA) procurement guidelines, the State of California, and a number of other sources. The final 34-page document put a control-based program in place.

"It was optimistically believed that the EPA model could be effectively used in King County, but it became clear fairly early, that while it was applicable and functional at the federal level, it was not working well for county agencies," says Eric Nelson, Recycled Product Procurement Program Coordinator of King County.

"The original policy included such things as tracking and reporting the number of sacks of fly ash that contractors used in cement mixes," he says.

As a practical matter, the tracking of fly ash, or any other product, was not working well. Nelson claims, "County agencies would need to spend more money counting the sacks of fly ash than they would spend on the sacks themselves."

In 1994, the county set about refining the lengthy document. What they came up with was very similar in theory, but stressed education rather than control, and thankfully, was condensed into a four-page, user-friendly document.

The revision benefited greatly by relying on five key components that are:

• All agencies will use recycled and environmentally preferable products whenever practicable. The program defines 'wherever practicable' as being satisfactory in performance and available at a fair and reasonable price.
• Agency personnel will perform product evaluations.
• A network of liaisons will link agencies and their collaborative efforts to develop new uses for recycled materials.
• The program will support users with product information, contracting assistance, educational events, external resources, as well as reporting services.
• Successes (and failures) will be shared with liaisons throughout the network.

By streamlining the policy and controls, the revision acknowledges a broader group of environmentally preferable products, and changes the procurement priorities of the more than 10,000 county employees and their contractors.

The Recycled Product Procurement Program is housed within the Procurement Services Division and is nurtured by just two people, Eric Nelson, Coordinator, and Karen Hamilton, Program Analyst. "It's a lot of work, but it's fun," Nelson quips, "except for the perennial uncertainties of the budget process."

He credits much of the program's success to a liaison network of over 300 employees in agencies throughout the county. "We found that it was better to rely on the very able brains of the engineers and others within the agencies," Nelson says.

Nelson and Hamilton look through an agency's personnel chart for likely liaison candidates. "We approach a department director, and then the managers, talking to them about needing people to evaluate products on the street level," he says.

In truth, before formally approaching a department, the person most likely to be appointed has already been spotted. Many times Nelson or Hamilton have spoken in advance to the person and gotten him or her to volunteer.

"We basically inform the agency management of what we've already done," he says, "and then they can sign off on it."

Though the revised policy states that, "all agencies shall use and require their contractors and consultants to use products manufactured with the maximum practicable amount of recovered material, especially post-consumer material," Nelson confidently leaves the details to the users.

"It doesn't make sense for me, who knows nothing about engineering, to write prescriptions for engineers," he says, "so we did away with all that prescriptive stuff, and fell back on this very clear requirement."

While the agencies go about their business, Nelson and Hamilton search for promising recycled products and applications through a number of recycling magazines and by accessing the Internet for up-to-date information. In addition, much of the product news they receive comes by word of mouth.

"We have our ears up for information all the time, and we take anything and everything we can get," Hamilton says. "It may be something we see, something we read about, or something another jurisdiction has done."

The team is careful to offer agencies ideas that have been thoroughly researched. Only products and materials expected to perform well, and that are economical, and readily available in the marketplace are presented.

As ideas surface, the team assembles all available information, including specific application information and performance data from product users and manufacturers. Once complete, the information packets are presented to agencies.

The policy calls for agencies to assign appropriate personnel to evaluate each designated product, and to report the results of their evaluations to the Purchasing Agency. Nelson and Hamilton strive to make this reporting process as simple as possible for users because, as Nelson says, "they were not hired to write reports, they were hired to build bridges, maintain stadiums, and design landscape projects." He adds, "we need their brains for evaluations, but we can take care of the report writing."

Nelson says, "we bring the information to liaisons. If they get it and it goes well for them, then we're there. If they don't get it, because we didn't communicate it effectively, then we'll just try it again."

Agencies decide on their own if a product or material provides a noteworthy alternative that makes economic sense.

"When put in those terms, agencies are delighted to work on implementation," says Nelson. "What they don't want is to be required to use something that is going to cost too much and not work as well as the materials with which they are familiar."

When Nelson asks a manager to set aside staff time to try something new, the agency generally encounters learning-curve costs. In fact, some agencies set aside funds specifically for trying and evaluating recycled products.

"When agencies try something new, they have to work slowly and carefully, and they are going to be spending more money than they used to on familiar products," Nelson says.

"Karen and I can approach the Department of Transportation and ask them to use recycled glass as an aggregate substitute in a road-shoulder base," he says, "but departments hold their performance requirements and budgetary constraints as their primary consideration."

While budget concerns command attention, Nelson and Hamilton have faith in the network liaison relationships.

"Liaisons know that we have been leading them in a good direction, and that we're not going to push them off a cliff or break their budgets," he says.

Along with the liaison network, educational opportunities further the program's success. "As far as education goes, our tours have been one of the best ways to show people how recycled products are being used," Hamilton says. "We tailor our site tours to a very specific audience."

"We bring the supplier, the user, and a handful of people in similar fields to a site to see the product, touch the product, and ask questions," she says. "The site tours have proven to be very powerful."

Many times Nelson and Hamilton will approach an agency with a great idea, but liaisons are unable to follow through immediately.

"We don't always know what happens, but if we actively provide samples and take potential users on tours, our message gets delivered," says Hamilton. "If we can get someone to come out and see something that someone else has done locally, well, that goes a long way."

County employees add another dimension to the program's success by actively pursuing ways to use recycled materials in new applications, and by working with vendors to refine manufacturing processes.

Developers of recycled products are often in the early stages of identifying the needs of potential customers and establishing production, marketing, and distribution capabilities. Because performance history is often unavailable, customer feedback can be vital to future product success.

A demonstration of shredded wood waste at the King County Jail led to a collaboration between a vendor and a county agency that ended with specifications development and a $6,000 savings.

"We loaded about a dozen liaison people on a bus and drove around town looking at the use of shredded wood waste as a landscape mulch," Nelson says. "It's really quite an attractive and functional product."

At the time, the county was working on a $100 million expansion of the West Point Waste Water Treatment Plant. "The tour timing was good, because Linda Sullivan (Secondary Upgrade Project Manager, Landscaping Contract) participated in the tour, and was just about to go out for mulch material," Nelson says.

As a result of the tour, Sullivan ordered wood waste mulch from Rainier Wood Recyclers, but upon taking delivery was dissatisfied with the product.

"We were looking for something with a texture that would be similar to forest litter," Sullivan says. "We wanted a coarse grind, but the loads that we received were too coarse, similar to something that contractors would call hog fuel."

Nelson was made aware of the situation and he suggested that Sullivan contact the supplier, "I told her he'll be happy to hear any complaints, because he's working on developing his product."

Sullivan says, "we worked with the vendor to actually adjust the grinders so that we could get a grind that would be a good combination of coarse and fine material."

Bob Sargent, General Manager, Rainier Wood Recyclers, says, "Eric was very helpful, first in persuading Linda Sullivan's group to try the recycled product, and then later in product quality improvement."

Sargent credits Nelson's help during the communication process in getting the recycled mulch to the point where Sullivan was satisfied that it met all her criteria.

The situation was resolved in three weeks, and wood waste mulch from Rainier Wood Recyclers was used throughout the 20-acre landscaping project.

"Because both parties maintained good attitudes," Nelson says, "Bob Sargent has developed a good product for his product line, and Linda Sullivan got a good product for her project."

Rainier's involvement with the county and the West Point project has increased the amount of business the company does with municipalities as well as the private sector.

"We just sold about 6,000 yards of mulch to a golf course, that I don't think we would have sold had they not seen the West Point application," Sargent says. "It's really spawned a lot of sales growth of our recycled products. It's been a tremendous program for us and has helped the community."

"Closing the loop is really critical," Sargent says. "While most municipalities know they need to recycle, they think in terms of collection, and not buying it back and making sure that there are markets."

Some agencies, like those doing administrative work, have little opportunity to increase use of recycled materials. Those that do, however, are presented with ideas, and Nelson and Hamilton follow up to publicize their results.

Nelson knows that report writing is not a priority for operations personnel, so the program avoids "routine reporting and drudge work like the plague."

Nelson regards detailed reporting as expensive, time-consuming, and not worth the effort. "If we're going to spend that much aggravation, pain, and money, we should just take the money and spend it directly on the product, instead of worrying about counting it," he says.

Nelson and Hamilton eliminate detailed record keeping by informally tracking agencies performing product evaluations. For example, the King County Department of Parks and Aquatics is currently evaluating the use of recycled, plate-glass sand in swimming pool filter systems.

"It could be a real win, because we've got this little company in town trying to develop a recycled plate glass application," Nelson says. "I've got a call into the department, and I'll keep in touch with them until I find out how that evaluation is going."

An integral part of the program involves gathering product evaluation information and making it available to other agencies in a timely manner. Hamilton says, "In the past we'd personally contact each liaison and write up summaries, but it became quite difficult to compile all the information."

The team created a short-answer questionnaire that covers each project in a simple fact-sheet format, providing a basic product performance summary.

Key questions garner information on project personnel, cost and savings, product performance, installation details, and manufacturer and distribution contacts.

Once a questionnaire has been completed by mail or telephone, the summary is uploaded in more or less narrative form, to the program's Web site at: http://www.metrokc.gov/procure/green/index.htm.

Nelson and Hamilton have created a Web site that allows them to provide information to county agencies, as well as other interested members of the community. Although the team does not have the resources to monitor site visits, Nelson feels that putting "real people's real answers out there is the most effective communications tool." He adds, "it allows us to reach many agencies without duplicating our efforts."

At times, Nelson will suggest that a liaison check out a report on the Web site that he or Hamilton has posted. He says, "most agencies have Web access, and soon all will."

The program's benefits have not been realized without a number of significant challenges. "Specifically, our number one challenge is that we just doubled the number of people within county agencies."

In 1996, the county reorganized to absorb transit and wastewater responsibilities, forcing Nelson and Hamilton to expand the liaison network to all the reorganized agencies.

Agency personnel require information to specify effectively and apply recycled goods as substitutes for familiar products, and "generically, the most important challenge is the fact that the project managers, designers, and contractors are not familiar with the recycled materials."

Nelson stresses that neither he nor Hamilton will approach an agency with a product or material unless they are absolutely convinced of it's potential.

"The most important thing for us is credibility, and we must maintain that very fragile credibility with our agency liaisons," he says. "If we present an agency with an idea that costs them too much money, gets their name in the newspaper in a negative way, causes them some form of embarrassment, or just doesn't work," says Nelson, "and we do that over and over again, we become a big waste of time, and we can't get them to play any more."

It is important that agencies know that sampling new materials will not compromise performance standards or economic constraints.

"We need their full attention and engagement to get the best use of their brains for these projects, and we have to be very careful about bringing them ideas that don't hurt them," he says.

Nelson knows though, that he has a little leeway regarding agencies and liaisons with whom he has a long-standing relationship.

"We've done so many successful things with Tony Guerrero, (former Maintenance Superintendent, Stadium Administration, King Dome) that we can bring him completely new ideas, and he'll try them out."

Guerrero says, "Eric would bring us something to try, and if we didn't have an immediate use, we'd hang on to it for a future application."

Nelson's suggestion of recycled plastic wood proved to be a money-saving, efficient alternative to the natural wood used in certain applications at the King Dome.

Astro turf used on the playing field is dropped into a channel cut into the concrete floor, where it was traditionally secured with natural wood wedges. The wedges were beat in place with sledge hammers and pried out with crowbars.

Guerrero says, "I had many problems with water getting into the channels, swelling and rotting the wood."

When Nelson suggested recycled plastic wood as an alternative, Guerrero believed that the plastic could be cut and mitered like natural wood.

"At first the carpenters were skeptical," Guerrero says, "but after testing the product, we ended up purchasing 1,500 linear feet of recycled plastic wood."

Besides proving to be a superior wedge, the plastic wood was found to withstand sledgehammer abuse better than natural wood, and thereby cut replacement costs considerably.

"There has to be a pioneer, of sorts, to purchase and test recycled products," Guerrero says. "After people see the success of a product, they tend to jump right on it."

The use of plastic lumber at the King Dome led maintenance personnel at the B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the Metro Dome in Minneapolis, MN, to use it in similar applications.

"I'm really in favor of closing the loop and getting the prices down to where they are competitive with the virgin products," Guerrero says. "The more we buy and use, the cheaper it's going to be for everyone."

Guerrero found the help provided by Nelson and Hamilton to be invaluable. "The Pacific Northwest, and King County in particular, are very proactive in helping agencies write specifications for purchasing recycled products."

Paper purchases have always been a program success. Recycled paper purchases grew from eight percent in 1989, to 93 percent almost one million dollars worth in 1995/96 (Table 1).

"When policy implementation began, we jumped up to 50 or 60 percent right away," Nelson says.

Because the original policy included a 15 percent price preference, recycled paper has proven to be a fairly simple procurement from the start.

By applying a price preference, the Procurement Services Division essentially forces agencies to make the recycled choice. "In limited instances when you're talking about something that is truly identical, then you can apply a price preference without consequences," he says. "When you get into more complex items, price preference becomes more of a hindrance than a help."

Price preferences are ideal for procurement of recycled products and materials that are equal to non-recycled counterparts. Nelson says, "we can look any agency straight in the eye and say, 'I know you're nervous about this, but this is really the same thing.' "

Nelson adds: "That 15 percent has been prescient, because it has been just exactly the right number for us to almost guarantee that we are going to purchase recycled paper."

The county, which maintains term supply contracts for recycled paper, rarely has to use the entire 15 percent because recycled paper has historically been running at about 5 percent above non-recycled.

The centrally-administered contacts and purchase orders enable agencies to purchase hundreds of recycled-paper products at low and consistent prices.

The county establishes term supply contracts for other recycled products as well, including anti-freeze, re-refined oil, tire retreading services, can liners, hog fuel, and more.

Term supply contracts allow agencies to order materials as needed, without re-negotiating, at lower prices, with consistent specifications, and minimal delays in obtaining materials.

While recycled paper purchases are relatively simple, non-paper, recycled-content product procurement can be quite complicated. Besides lacking price preference advantages, many items suffer from under-developed market places.

To add another wrinkle, these products are often purchased through complex engineering and construction contracts, and may depend on specific materials requirements; acceptance by state, federal, and other external organizations; product price and availability; and the ability of contractors to install or use the products.

In 1995/96, county non-paper recycled product purchases totaled over $780,000, with $549,000 obtained through term-supply and one-time purchase contracts, and over $232,500 through construction contracts.

"Some of these recycled materials have turned out to be big money savers (See Table II)," Nelson says. Since 1991, recycled toner cartridges for laser printers have been purchased under a term supply contract developed in collaboration with local vendors. The cartridges meet original equipment standards and are guaranteed.

The county purchased more than 2,500 recycled cartridges during the 1995/96 year, saving over $200,000. Nelson says, "the current contract allows us to purchase cartridges at about one third of the cost of news ones."

Nelson views recycled concrete aggregate as an area with room for growth. "We're seeing a lot of our agencies specifying these materials more and more frequently." Another area that Nelson thinks will take off is recycled glass aggregate.

He is especially hopeful because a local recycling facility has mountains of recycled glass that needs an application. "King County Solid Waste Division did a number of projects where they used recycled glass as pipe bedding aggregate," he says.

Surplus recycled materials often lead the county and recycling facilities to develop new applications, but Nelson warns these applications must not become requirements in case supplies become unavailable.

"I will be perfectly happy if we continue to work with county agencies so that their specifications always allow for the use of recycled materials."

Purchase summaries are an important measure of the program's success, though agencies are not required to keep elaborate records. The team uses existing accounting or management information systems wherever possible.

Information on the quantity and dollar amount of non-paper recycled product purchases (Table III) is collected from term supply contracts, while direct purchases are reported by agency liaisons.

"One the one hand, we have supply contracts, and Karen and I call the vendors each quarter to get a reading," Nelson says. "It's not as onerous as it sounds; we're only talking about a few dozen contracts."

On the other hand the county has major projects, that involve a cascade of contractors, subcontractors, designers, and all sorts of people. In those cases, the county has no single accounting office that maintains specific numbers on recycled material usage.

For this information, Nelson and Hamilton must go to the project managers and their subordinates.

Because agencies are not required to use the official procurement system for purchases less than $2,500, the program is unable to track those purchases, further frustrating bookkeeping efforts.

Considering the program's success in 1997, Nelson says, "there is no reason to believe that we will not continue the trend that we've established over the last few years, which is gradual increase."

Nelson, Hamilton, and the liaison network are focusing a good deal of effort on construction contracts for 1997 and beyond. "It is a very slow, convoluted process involving many agencies, over which we have no direct control," he says, "but it's a lot of fun because we are finding that local designers and architects have an interest in using recycled materials."

Nelson hopes that, "together we may be able to bring about the construction of some major county projects using recycled materials in a highly visible way this is our objective for the future."

Editor's Note: The King County Recycled Product Procurement Program is on the Internet. Look for the 1997 Annual Report on the Web site in September. For more information, contact Eric Nelson by phone: 206-296-4324 or e-mail: eric.nelson@metrokc.gov.

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