The Plastics Industry Association’s (PLASTICS’) Recycling Committee today released its Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Guide. The new, easy-to-read guide is designed to provide an introduction to the various EPP policies that plastics businesses can take advantage of to better position products, containing recycled content and other environmentally friendly qualities, to institutional purchasers. Institutional purchasing, in the public and private sectors, accounts for $10 trillion annually in the U.S.
The EPP Guide also outlines how companies can work with state and federal agencies to purchase products that have desired environmental benefits. Numerous federal agencies and 32 states give preferential purchasing status to products with desired environmental benefits, such as recycled content, making the business case for environmentally conscious products from design to inception throughout the entire supply chain.
“In today’s climate where demand for recycled resins are down, PLASTICS’ Recycling Committee is looking for opportunities that will help drive demand. State and federal EPP policies have a lot of unrealized potential in terms of better positioning use of recycled content,” said Kim Holmes, vice president of sustainability at PLASTICS. “Our hope is that this guide will uncover new opportunities to use recycled content and offer recyclers a new sales strategy for positioning their materials with customers.”
Enacted under Executive Order 13693, “Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade,” EPP policies and the purchasing of environmentally friendly goods will continue to expand. As more consumers demand products that are environmentally responsible and conscious, systems such as EPP are business-driven incentives that reward the work of responsible product developers.
“The EPP Guide is an extension of PLASTICS’ Recycling Committee’s work, as it brings government agencies, municipalities and states together with manufacturers of environmentally preferred products,” said Robert Render, commercial manager of Ravago Recycling Group/Muehlstein. “It demonstrates to manufacturers the value of using recycled content and the opportunities presented by large public purchasing entities.”
For more information, visit www.plasticsindustry.org.