Intro. 482 -- Fact Sheet

City Agency Environmental Procurement & Waste Prevention

(Intro 482 in its entirety is at: http://everest.hunter.cuny.edu/~mclarke/WPComm.htm)

On December 11, 1998, legislation, summarized below, was introduced into the New York City Council in order to increase the City's purchase of products, materials and equipment made with post-consumer recycled content and to incorporate waste prevention measures into the City’s procurement and product utilization practices

City agencies shall review newly developed or existing procurement specifications to determine whether such specifications would exclude, eliminate or otherwise discourage the purchase of

• recycled products or packaging,
• products or packaging manufactured from recyclable materials
• products, packaging or equipment that have been remanufactured; or
• products or packaging that facilitate waste prevention, including but not limited to rechargeable batteries.

This review shall be utilized by all agencies to make any necessary change in such procurement specifications to ensure that:

• such specifications do not exclude, eliminate or otherwise discourage the purchase of the above products, materials and equipment.
• specifications for recycled product, material or equipment must contain post-consumer recycled content in an amount that equals or exceeds the highest amount of post-consumer recycled content, as such standard may be amended from time to time, required by either: (i) the United States environmental protection agency minimum content standards for recycled materials content (ii) the minimum content standards promulgated pursuant to the New York State environmental conservation law; or (iii) the minimum content standards developed by the NYC department of citywide administrative services.

• waste prevention measures are considered in specifications for the procurement of products, packaging and equipment; and
• to the maximum extent feasible, products and packaging made from recyclable materials are used and excess packaging is eliminated; and
• performance standards, specifications and a product’s intended use are related and clearly identified, when feasible.

All agencies shall, wherever recycled products meet contract specifications and the price of such products is reasonably competitive, purchase such products. ("Reasonably competitive" shall mean that the cost of the recycled product does not exceed a cost premium of ten percent above the cost of a comparable, non-recycled product, or, if at least fifty percent of the secondary materials utilized in the manufacture of that product are generated from the New York State waste stream, the cost of the recycled product does not exceed a cost premium of fifteen percent.)

(To conform with new Federal regulations) All purchases of printing and writing paper by agencies and the council shall be no less than thirty percent post-consumer recycled content, and if this is not reasonably available, does not meet performance requirements, or is available at an unreasonable price, paper containing no less than twenty percent post-consumer recycled content shall be purchased.

All city agencies shall purchase and require the use of rechargeable batteries and products that contain rechargeable batteries, and shall recycle rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries and all single-use batteries, to the maximum extent feasible.

Successful bidders to city contracts must agree that all reports shall be printed on recycled paper, as defined above, and where feasible, use both sides of the paper, and that the use of packaging in performance of a contract shall be eliminated to the maximum extent feasible.

By October, 1999, all city agencies shall prepare and submit to the mayor’s office of operations a plan for incorporating and increasing the level of waste prevention in its procurement practices, and update the plan each fiscal year thereafter. ("A plan for incorporating and increasing the level of waste prevention" shall mean a plan that requires, to the maximum extent feasible, waste prevention product utilization practices such as: double-sided copying and printing; the communication of information by electronic mail, discouraging the use of cover pages in the transmission of faxes.)

By October, 1999, the mayor’s office of contracts shall submit to the mayor’s office of operations a plan for incorporating and increasing the level of waste prevention in its procedures applicable to the procurement of services, other than construction services, by city agencies. Such plan shall be updated each fiscal year thereafter.

By October, 1999, the mayor’s office of construction shall submit to the mayor’s office of operations a plan for incorporating into and increasing the level of waste prevention in its procedures applicable to the procurement of construction services. Such plan shall be updated each fiscal year thereafter.

By December, 1999, the mayor’s office of operations, in consultation with the department of citywide administrative services and the department, shall prepare and submit to the mayor and the council, each citizens’ advisory board, a waste prevention and recycling procurement report and plan. Such plan shall be updated each fiscal year thereafter. The waste prevention and recycling procurement report and plan shall include, but not be limited to:

1. a status report on the implementation of the above waste prevention plans
2. a summary of activities undertaken to increase the procurement of recycled products and packaging that facilitates waste prevention;
3. the dollar amount spent on any price preference used for any recycled product purchases
4. a summary of any revisions to federal, state or city minimum content standards;
5. the quantities purchased, sources of purchases and the dollar amount spent on durable, reusable, remanufactured and recyclable products and packaging;

6. the costs avoided, including but not limited to the areas of storage, replacement and procurement, by the implementation of waste prevention measures; and

7. the net costs associated with the implementation of waste prevention procurement measures.

8. a ten-year plan for increasing the incorporation of waste prevention into the procurement practices of city agencies, including the procurement of construction services that shall include, but not be limited to:

(i) development of a method and schedule for increasing the purchase of products, materials and equipment that promote waste prevention, including the reduction in the use of packaging

(ii) development of method and schedule for implementing a state-of-the-art computerized inventory control and procurement system, installed on a network that links all city agency procurement departments, facility management departments and agency environmental executives to increase utility of reusable, warehoused products and to share information on recycled content and waste prevention procurement.

(iii) development of a product list for purchasing products, materials, or equipment that are durable, remanufactured, reusable and/or recyclable.

(iv) development and expansion of repair and maintenance programs for products, materials and equipment;

(v) the establishment of agency paper reduction guidelines;

(vi) increased use of city surplus and warehoused items; and

(vii) increased use of products with extended warranties and remanufactured products.

(viii) a schedule for developing a catalog of all toxic products used by each city agency, which would also include the results, for each of these products, of a search for non-toxic or less toxic alternatives and recommendations for revisions to procurement specifications to ensure the purchase of less toxic alternatives, where such alternatives exist.

(ix) development of a schedule and implementation plan for the purchase of chlorine-free printing and writing paper by city mayoral and non-mayoral agencies beginning no later than January 1, 2000.

Annually, beginning with fiscal year 2000, all city agencies shall prepare separate lists of products, materials and equipment procured in the previous fiscal year that: (1) were durable, reusable or remanufactured, including products and equipment that operate or are intended to be operated on rechargeable batteries; (2) met or exceeded the highest amount of post-consumer recycled content established by USEPA, NYSDEC, and NYCDCAS, (3) were formulated to reduce or eliminate packaging; or (4) were formulated to substantially reduce or eliminate toxic materials. Such lists shall be circulated to all city mayoral and non-mayoral agencies and the council, and shall be made available upon request to all contractors with the City.

The head of each agency shall designate an agency environmental executive from his or her senior staff who will be responsible for:

• coordinating all environmental programs in the areas of procurement and acquisition, standards and specification review, facilities management, waste prevention and recycling;
• participating in the development and implementation of the waste prevention and recycled product procurement plans for the agency;
• coordinating timely submission of agency reports to mayor’s office of operations on the annual progress of these plans;
• establishing incentives, providing guidance and coordinating appropriate educational programs for agency employees; and
• reviewing agency programs to ensure compliance with this subchapter.