Buying Recycled

Buying products made from recycled materials is a key step in supporting recycling programs and resource conservation. Resources are saved only when recycled products are purchased. This is referred to as "closing the loop."

Sorting your materials into your recycling bin is only the first step in the process. Once the materials are collected and processed, they are sent to a buyer, or an end-market. This market takes the recyclables and processes them into the new products that return to store shelves. When you buy a product with recycled content, you are creating a demand for this product and ensuring that the recyclers always have somewhere to sell their materials.

Tips for buying recycled products

Read labels and be informed
Take a few seconds to look at the product to see whether the product or the packaging contains recycled content. This is just as simple as checking out the nutrition label or ingredient list on a box of food. Look for the products and packaging with the highest percentage of recycled content.

While you have the product in your hand, check to see if the product or packaging can be reused or recycled after you use it. Buying products that can be recycled or reused helps to reduce your waste in the first place.

What does recyclable mean?
The term recyclable refers to products that can be used again in the manufacture of new products rather than being disposed of as waste after consumption. Although many manufacturers mark their items recyclable, this does not automatically make them so. The fact that something claims to be recyclable does not always mean that you can recycle it locally. Materials are only recyclable if you separate them from your trash for local recycling collections.

Post-consumer vs. pre-consumer
Post-consumer material comes from the items that have been used and discarded by a consumer like you, collected through recycling efforts and sold to manufacturers. You will find this term mainly on paper and plastic products. By purchasing products with the highest percentages of post-consumer recycled content available, you support recycling by increasing the market for recycled materials and decreasing the use of virgin materials.

On the other hand, pre-consumer refers to waste items that are generated in the production stages of manufacturing. These materials have not reached the consumer and take the form of damaged products, material trimmings or production over-runs. Manufacturers have been reusing pre-consumer waste for many decades because it saves money. Recycling and reuse of these pre-consumer materials also saves landfill space and virgin resources.

Buy green guidelines
Government agencies, as well as many businesses and organizations, set purchasing guidelines for environmentally friendly products. For example, most federal government agencies must purchase paper with at least 30% post-consumer recycled content. Click here to visit the EPA's site on purchasing guidelines and available recycled products.

Talk to your co-workers and office managers about setting up your own purchasing guidelines. This can be as simple as inserting a clause about environmental considerations into your guidelines to as complex as creating a comprehensive list of preferred products and suppliers.

Local suppliers
Click here for a partial list of local suppliers of recycled products.

Buy Recycled Network
Eco-Cycle is no longer enrolling new members into this program. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Page updated April 2005