Federal agencies must purchase only recycled paper beginning next year, President Clinton said this week.
In a new executive order, Clinton instructed agencies to purchase paper with a minimum 30 percent post-consumer content. Producers label their paper "post-consumer" if the recycled content has been used by customers. Some paper content is labeled as recycled if it is recovered from the mill floor and used.
Agencies must set goals for purchasing recycled paper, as well as other products, which they must meet by Jan. 1, 2000. Each agency must create an "affirmative procurement program" by the end of October.
In addition, agencies must set goals for solid waste prevention and recycling in their facilities. They must also develop long-range goals for 2005 and 2010, including targets for recycling or reusing white paper, mixed paper, cardboard, aluminum, plastic, glass, pallets, toner cartridges, batteries, scrap metal, fluorescent lamps and ballasts.
The order also suggests that agencies incorporate their recycling goals into their annual Government Performance and Results Act performance plans beginning in 2001.
The new order replaces Executive Order 12873, a recycling mandate Clinton issued in October 1993. In the 1993 order, Clinton told each agency head to assign a senior executive the role of environmental czar, with responsibility to make sure environmental considerations are factored into purchasing decisions. The order also created a Federal Environmental Executive at the Environmental Protection Agency, with responsibility for coordinating green purchasing and recycling activities governmentwide.
The federal government uses 300,000 tons per year of printing and writing paper.
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