WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

How to buy green?

The Catalonian EPA53 identified five steps that the administration must follow for the implementation of a green purchasing policy.
1. Define and approve the political objectives
define a green purchasing policy
define objectives and goals
develop norms
integrate the green purchasing in a sustainable development policy
2. Analyse the initial situation
identify the circuit of purchasing
list the purchased products and services and their suppliers
3. Promote the formation, the communication and the participation between the different
actors: suppliers, purchasers, users and administrators

4. Decide the environmental criteria

define clearly the environmental criteria and the decision process
elaborate a database of homologated suppliers
elaborate a database with the product and services to purchase
elaborate a database with the products and services to avoid
define the procedures of control
5. Take political actions: cooperate and establish supra-regional cooperation
Exchange the information between administrations
Favour the union between the administration in order to:
Have more influence on the market
Promote the development of innovative markets
Promote the information, the motivation and the political influence
Debate and define common criteria
Cooperate at national and European level in the legislative and normative aspects

When any L/RA launches a call for tender, the green specifications must appear clearly in it. They must respect
the principle of free market as defined in the EU treaties. The criteria address the:

production process
use of specified raw materials
use of the performances such as defined e.g. by the ecolabels (but it is not allowed to
restrict public purchasing exclusively to eco-labelled products)
requirement for higher performances than those laid down in legislation or standard
The attribution criteria may also include a green constituent as the integration of the whole life
costs when those are borne by the purchaser as the costs of use, the costs of recycling or disposal.

53- " Guia de Compres Pbliques Ambientalment Correctes " - Departament de Medi Ambient Generalitat de Catalunya - 2000

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WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

For the implementation of a green procurement policy, the reading of GRIP Purchasing
a Guide to an Environmentally Efficient Purchasing Practice54 is recommended.
In the USA, the federal agencies must establish affirmative procurement programmes for products
with recovered content and other environmentally preferable products. In order to respect those
obligations, the National Park Service, Hazardous Waste Management & Pollution Prevention
Team of Washington established a list of products to purchase preferentially. This list
compiles own data and a list published by EPA for the implementation of the federal green
purchasing policy. Part of this list, corresponding to the goods containing recovered
plastics, is reproduced below. If this list is non-exhaustive and corresponds to the American
way of consumption and recycling, it gives an idea of the type of goods containing recycled
plastics that can be purchased by public entities. Only the goods containing recovered
plastic are presented below.
Construction products
floor tiles
shower and restroom dividers/partitions
patio blocks
non-fibreglass building insulation
acoustic ceiling tile
recovered plastic lumber
docks and piers
pipes
Transportation products
parking stops
chanelisers, delineators and flexible delineators
traffic barricades
traffic cones
speed bumps
signs
Park and recreation products
playground surfaces
lawn and garden edging
plastic snow and sand fencing
park benches and picnic tables
playground equipment and bike racks
signs and signposts
Landscaping products
garden and soaker hose
lawn and garden edging
hose reels
wheel burrows, gardening and landscaping tools
Office products
plastic envelops
office waste and recycling containers
plastic desktop accessories
remanufactured toner cartridges
binders
plastic bags
pens and pencils
erasable and cork boards
Miscellaneous Products
pallets
recycling bins and trash bins
bubble wrap and other packaging materials
54- May be ordered from: GRIP center Oslo Norway- Tel: +47 22 57 36 00 Fax: +47 22 68 87 53

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