[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Mercer
County as Ch. 2.16 of the 2003 Mercer County Code (Ord. No. 92-6). Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Pursuant to P.L. 2020, c. 67, effective 1-1-2021, the Code
of Mercer County has been amended to delete the term “Board
of Chosen Freeholders” and replace it with the term “Board
of County Commissioners.” In addition, the terms “Freeholder”
and “Chosen Freeholder” have been deleted and replaced
by the term “County Commissioner.”]
This chapter shall be known as the "Recycled Product Procurement
Policy." Its purpose is to promote the reduction of waste, and development
of markets for recycled products and recyclable products by establishing
purchase programs applicable to all departments and contractors, thereby
diverting materials from the solid waste stream and avoiding the costs
of disposal for those materials.
The following terms shall have the assigned definitions for
all purposes under this chapter:
One who uses goods or services for his/her/its own needs
rather than to produce other goods. This does not include providers
of value-added processes such as printers and converters.
A product designated in this chapter, or designated by the
Purchasing Agency pursuant to this chapter, that meets or surpasses
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) minimum recycled
content standards and other criteria for qualification as specified
in this chapter.
An item having completed the manufacturing or converting
process and having been distributed or sold to its consumer.
Standards that specify the minimum levels of preconsumer waste material and postconsumer waste material content established pursuant to § 4.04.060 of this chapter that is necessary for designated products to qualify as designated recycled products.
Paper products which the manufacturer certifies that elemental
chlorine or chlorine-containing compounds have not been used to bleach
or otherwise process the paper used in the final end product. In the
case of manufacturers who use preconsumer waste material and postconsumer
waste material to be used in end products, such manufacturers shall
certify that chlorine-containing compounds have not been used in the
processing and production of the end product.
Materials or by-products generated after manufacturing of
a product is completed, but before the product reaches the end-use
consumer. Preconsumer waste material does not include home scrap,
which is those scrap materials or by-products generated by a company
that can be used by the generating company or parent company.
Only those materials generated by a consumer which have served
their intended end use, and which have been separated or diverted
from solid waste. Wastes generated during production of an end product
are excluded. All materials collected from residential sources in
a municipal or County recycling program shall be considered postconsumer.
A product which, after its intended end use, 25% of the product
has been diverted from the solid waste stream for use as a raw material,
in the manufacture of another consumer or procurable product. For
the purposes of this definition, burning or composting of products
shall not be considered diversion.
A paper product with the minimum recycled content established by the Purchasing Agent pursuant to Subsection B of § 4.04.060. "Recycled paper" means a paper product with not less than 50% of its total weight consisting of preconsumer waste materials or with not less than 10% of its total weight consisting of postconsumer waste materials.
A package, product or container, which can be used in place
of an alternative disposable package or product, and which contains
or holds a depletable resource or which can be refurbished for resale,
and can be refilled or reused a minimum of five times by a consumer.
Examples include, but are not limited to, laser and copy machine toner
cartridges, typewriter cartridges and shipping containers.
The following products shall be considered as designated recycled
products that should be procured if they meet the minimum recycled
content standards, whenever practicable:
A.
Recycled paper and paper products including, but not limited to:
writing and copying paper, napkins, towels and facial tissue;
B.
Compost products;
C.
Cement and asphalt concrete containing recycled aggregate, tire rubber
or glass cullet;
D.
Recycled concrete aggregate and asphalt;
E.
Lubricating oil and hydraulic oil with re-refined oil content;
F.
Recycled antifreeze;
G.
Plastic lumber;
H.
Retreaded and remolded tires;
I.
Products made from recycled tire rubber, including rubber mats and
play field surfaces;
J.
Building insulation products manufactured using recycled materials;
K.
Recycled paint;
L.
Recharged laser printer toner cartridges;
M.
Reusable products or products in reusable packaging where the reusable
products or packaging are alternatives to disposable products or packaging;
N.
Lead-acid batteries or rechargeable, reusable batteries;
O.
Other recycled products as designated by the Purchasing Agent.
A.
All departments shall practice waste reduction whenever possible.
All departments shall use reusable products, recycled products and
recyclable products whenever practicable.
B.
Departments shall require their contractors and consultants (including
private printers, food service vendors, etc.) to use recycled products
in fulfilling contractual obligations.
C.
Departments shall promote the use of recycled products and recyclable
products by publicizing the procurement program and by disseminating
information about recycled products.
D.
When purchasing recycled products all departments shall maximize
the procurement of recycled products that contain the highest percentage
of postconsumer waste materials.
E.
Departments shall ensure that the title page of each report printed
on recycled paper bears an imprint identifying the paper as recycled,
and contains the percentage of preconsumer and postconsumer content
used.
A.
The recycled paper procurement goal for each user department, expressed
as a percentage of the total value of paper purchased, shall be: not
less than 30% by December 1993, not less than 40% by December 1994,
and not less than 60% by December 1995.
B.
The procurement goal for all other designated recycled products,
expressed as a percentage of the total value of all products, shall
be: not less than 15% by December 1993, not less than 25% by December
1994, and not less the 45% by December 1995.
C.
All imprinted letterhead paper, copy paper, envelopes and business
cards used by all departments shall be recycled paper and shall bear
an imprint identifying the paper as recycled.
D.
To reduce the volume of paper purchased, departments shall use both
sides of paper sheets used for copying and printing purposes on documents
that exceed five pages in length. Departments shall ensure that all
staff are informed of this requirement.
E.
Agencies receiving funds from Mercer County shall institute programs
to use reusable, recycled and recyclable products whenever practicable.
Agencies shall submit an annual certification of the percentage amount
of such products used.
The Purchasing Agent shall:
A.
Establish, update and promulgate a list of designated recycled products that shall be purchased by the County whenever practicable. This list shall, at a minimum, contain the products specified in § 4.04.030 of this chapter. The Purchasing Agent may add to the list required by this subsection designated recycled products that are not specifically listed in § 4.04.030 of this chapter. For the purposes of this subsection, "whenever practicable" means the lowest price recycled or reusable good that can be procured. Nothing in this chapter shall require the purchase of goods that do not perform adequately for their intended purpose;
B.
Adopt minimum recycled content standards for designated recycled
products. Except for reusable products or packaging, minimum recycled
content standards established for designated recycled products shall
require no less than 10% postconsumer waste material content. The
Purchasing Agent may raise the postconsumer content standard above
10% when such an increase will result in an increase in the total
utilization of postconsumer material within the products purchased,
used or submitted. For goods, supplies, and materials and for which
the United State Environmental Protection Agency has adopted procurement
guidelines under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
(P.L. 94-580, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq., 40 CFR Parts 248-250,
252, 253), as amended, the minimum recycled content standard may not
be less than content standards specified in such guidelines. EPA guidelines
for the purpose of procuring fly ash in concrete are specifically
limited to the ash generated from coal-burning plants. In the case
of printing and writing paper, the Purchasing Agent shall set minimum
recycled content standards with not less than 50% of the paper's total
weight consisting of preconsumer waste materials postconsumer waste
materials and with not less than 10% of its total weight consisting
of postconsumer waste material;
C.
The Purchasing Agent shall revise product procurement specifications
to eliminate any specifications that require the use of virgin products
or exclude the use of recycled products, unless it can be demonstrated
that such specifications are necessary to protect health, or safety
or that recycled products could not meet necessary performance standards.
The County Executive shall designate, amongst existing staff,
a recycled product procurement coordinator who shall:
A.
Inform departments of their responsibility under this chapter and
provide implementation assistance;
B.
Compile and disseminate to departments information on recycled product
specifications and procurement opportunities;
C.
Assist departments in resolving problems with recycled product availability
or performance;
D.
Coordinate periodic meetings with representatives of departments
to review policy requirements, communicate new procurement opportunities
to departments and monitor the status of policy implementation efforts
and product research results;
E.
Publicize the successes of the procurement policy;
F.
Evaluate supply and material usage by the department and encourage
department employees to reduce waste and hence reduce generation of
solid waste; and
G.
Submit annual report to the Board of County Commissioners reflecting
the implementation status of the procurement program, including:
(1)
A compilation of procurement data collected from all departments
and parties charged with implementation responsibility under this
chapter;
(2)
Evaluation of minimum recycled content standards and procurement
specifications, including specification revisions made over the previous
year and future specification revisions to be made;
(3)
A summary of program promotional efforts;
(4)
An assessment of the effectiveness of the procurement program
and evaluation of program goals;
(5)
Descriptions and projections of future procurement plans and
opportunities;
(6)
Recommendations for changes in procurement policy.
Each department shall:
A.
Ensure that contracts issued by the department require recycled material
content wherever practicable and that contractors provide certification
of both recycled and postconsumer content, and report the amount used;
B.
Report the progress of policy implementation by the department at
periodic meetings with the procurement coordinator, including status
of product evaluations being conducted by the department and types
of recycled products purchased;
C.
Report total purchases of recycled products and nonrecycled alternative
products annually to the procurement coordinator;
D.
Report total quantities of nonrecycled goods in both tons and dollars
to the procurement coordinator;
E.
Report total quantities of recycled goods purchased both in tons
and percentages of recycled content to the procurement coordinator;
F.
Prepare an annual report containing the above information to be submitted
to the Board of County Commissioners within 30 days following the
end of each calendar year. Report shall be made available to the public
upon request.
