In response to concerns about the government’s ability to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the commercial marketplace, these reforms streamlined the way that the federal government buys its goods and services. Federal Purchases of Recycled-Content Products Cannot Now Be Determined Because of Incomplete Reporting and Lack of Monitoring

EPA accelerated its efforts in the 1990s to identify and issue guidance on procuring products with recycled content, but the extent to which the major federal procuring agencies, with the exception of Energy, have purchased these products cannot be determined because they do not have data systems that clearly identify purchases of recycled-content products. According to the agencies, implementing the EPA guidance for determining what constitutes an environmentally preferable product is difficult and time-consuming. Federal agencies’ development and implementation of programs to encourage purchases of environmentally preferable products has not resulted in significant changes to agencies’ procurement practices. Nonetheless, RCRA requires such information. EPA and the departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation declined to formally comment on the report. After discussing these issues with their offices, we agreed to address the status of, and barriers to, federal agencies efforts to (1) implement the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act’s requirements for procuring products with recycled content, and (2) procure environmentally preferable and biobased products.
What GAO Found

The federal government buys about $200 billion worth of goods and services each year. Through its purchasing decisions, the federal government can signal its commitment to preventing pollution, reducing solid waste, increasing recycling, and stimulating markets for environmentally friendly products. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify products made with recycled waste materials or solid waste by-products and to develop guidance for purchasing these products. The act also requires procuring agencies to establish programs for purchasing them. This report examines efforts by federal agencies to (1) implementation of RCRA requirements for procuring products with recycled content and (2) the purchase of environmentally preferable and bio-based products. EPA accelerated its efforts in the 1990s to identify recycled-content products, but the status of agencies' efforts to implement the RCRA purchasing requirements for these products is uncertain. The four major procuring agencies report that, for many reasons, their procurement practices have not changed to increase their purchases of environmentally preferable and bio-based products. One reason for the lack of change is that EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been slow to develop and implement the programs.