CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 12200-12217
PUBLIC CONTRACT CODE
SECTION 12200-12217
12200. For the purpose of this article, the following definitions
shall apply:
(a) "Board" means the California Integrated Waste Management
Board, as defined pursuant to Section 40110 of the Public Resources
Code.
(b) "Business" includes bidders, contractors, and other interested
parties that provide services to, or sell products to, the state.
(c) "Department" means the Department of General Services.
(d) "Director" means the Director of General Services.
(e) "Postconsumer material" means a finished material that would
have been disposed of as a solid waste, having completed its life
cycle as a consumer item, and does not include manufacturing wastes.
(f) "Product categories" include paper products, printing, and
writing papers, compost, cocompost, or mulch, glass, oil, plastic,
paint, tires, tire-derived products, antifreeze, and metal.
(g) "Purchase" means any contractual agreement that state agencies
use to obtain goods or materials.
(h) "Recycled products" mean goods or materials that meet the
requirements identified in Section 12209, including any good or
material that has been reused or refurbished without substantial
alteration of its original form.
(i) "Reportable purchase" means the purchase of any goods or
materials, with recycled content or not, that may be reported or
categorized or classified within one of the product categories
identified in Section 12207.
(j) "Reportable recycled product purchase" means the purchase of
any goods or materials that meet the requirements identified in
Section 12209, that may be reported or categorized or classified
within one of the product categories identified in Section 12207,
including any good or material that has been reused or refurbished
without substantial alteration of its original form.
(k) "SABRC" means the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign.
(l) "Secondary material" means fragments of finished products or
finished products of a manufacturing process, that has converted a
resource into a commodity of real economic value, but does not
include excess virgin resources of the manufacturing process, such as
fibers recovered from wastewater, trimmings of paper machine rolls,
mill broke, plastic, or metal trimmings, or shavings, or other
residue from a manufacturing process. Secondary material does not
include postconsumer material, so that the secondary material plus
the postconsumer material plus the virgin material adds up to 100
percent of the product.
(m) "State agency" means each entity identified in Section 11000
of the Government Code, and includes the California State University.
12201. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is the policy
of the state to conserve and protect its resources. The Legislature
further finds and declares that the use of recycled products produced
as the result of the superior waste management efforts by the state
and local governmental entities will help conserve resources.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the state pursue all
feasible measures to improve markets for recycled products including,
but not limited to, bid evaluation preferences for purchases made by
the state.
(c) If fitness and quality are equal, each state agency shall
purchase recycled products instead of nonrecycled products whenever
recycled products are available at the same or a lesser total cost
than nonrecycled products.
12203. Each state agency shall ensure each of the following:
(a) At least 50 percent of reportable purchases are recycled
products.
(b) The requirements specified in this article apply to all
reportable purchases of state agencies for product categories listed
in this article.
(c) The reportable purchases of state agencies shall meet each
requirement for, and be applied to the total dollar amount of, each
specified product category as defined in this article. The purchase
of a recycled product from one category may not be applied toward the
requirements for, or the total dollar amount of, any other category
listed in this article.
(d) Each state agency shall require the businesses with whom it
contracts to use, to the maximum extent economically feasible in the
performance of the contract work, recycled products.
12205. (a) (1) All state agencies shall require all businesses to
certify in writing the minimum percentage, if not the exact
percentage, of postconsumer material in the products, materials,
goods, or supplies offered or sold to the state regardless of whether
the product meets the requirements of Section 12209. The
certification shall be furnished under penalty of perjury. The
certification shall be provided regardless of content, even if the
product contains no recycled material.
(2) With respect to printer or duplication cartridges that comply
with the requirements of subdivision (e) of Section 12156, the
certification required by this subdivision shall specify that the
cartridges so comply.
(3) A state agency may waive the certification requirement if the
percentage of postconsumer material in the products, materials,
goods, or supplies can be verified in a written advertisement,
including, but not limited to, a product label, a catalog, or a
manufacturer or vendor Internet Web site.
(b) (1) All businesses shall certify in writing to the contracting
officer or his or her representative the minimum percentage, if not
the exact percentage, of postconsumer material in the products,
materials, goods, or supplies being offered or sold to the state
regardless of whether the product meets the requirements of Section
12209. The certification shall be furnished under penalty of perjury.
The certification shall be provided regardless of content, even if
the product contains no recycled material.
(2) With respect to printer or duplication cartridges that comply
with the requirements of subdivision (e) of Section 12156, the
certification required by this subdivision shall specify that the
cartridges so comply.
(3) A state agency may waive the certification requirement if the
percentage of postconsumer material in the products, materials,
goods, or supplies can be verified in a written advertisement,
including, but not limited to, a product label, a catalog, or a
manufacturer or vendor Internet Web site.
12207. This article applies to the purchase of goods and materials
from the following product categories:
(a) Paper products, including, but not limited to, paper
janitorial supplies, cartons, wrapping, packaging, file folders, and
hanging files, building insulation and panels, corrugated boxes,
tissue, and toweling.
(b) Printing and writing papers including, but not limited to,
copy, xerographic, watermark, cotton fiber, offset, forms, computer
printout paper, white wove envelopes, manila envelopes, book paper,
note pads, writing tablets, newsprint, and other uncoated writing
papers, posters, index cards, calendars, brochures, reports,
magazines, and publications.
(c) Mulch, compost, and cocompost products including soil
amendments, erosion controls, soil toppings, ground covers, weed
suppressants, and organic materials used for water conservation.
(1) "Compost" means a product that meets the following
requirements:
(A) It results from the controlled biological decomposition of
organic materials, including, but not limited to, yard trimmings and
wood byproducts that are separated from the municipal solid waste
stream at the source of generation or at a centralized facility, or
other source of organic materials.
(B) It is produced by a public or private supplier that is in
compliance with the board's composting operations regulatory
requirements.
(2) "Cocompost" means a product that meets the following
requirements:
(A) It results from the controlled biological decomposition of a
blend of organic materials, including, but not limited to, yard
trimmings and wood byproducts that are separated from the municipal
solid waste stream at the source of generation or at a centralized
facility, and also including, but not limited to, biosolids or other
comparable substitutes such as livestock, horse, or other animal
manure, food residues, or fish processing byproducts.
(B) It is produced by a public or private supplier that is in
compliance with the board's composting operations regulatory
requirements.
(3) "Mulch" means a product that meets the following requirements:
(A) It results from the mechanical breakdown (chipping and
grinding) of materials, including, but not limited to, yard trimmings
and wood byproducts that are separated from the municipal solid
waste stream at the source of generation or at a centralized
facility.
(B) It is produced by a public or private supplier that is in
compliance with the board's composting operations regulatory
requirements.
(d) Glass products including, but not limited to, windows, test
tubes, beakers, laboratory or hospital supplies, fiberglass
(insulation), reflective beads, tiles, construction blocks, desktop
accessories, flat glass sheets, loose-grain abrasives, deburring
media, liquid filter media, and containers.
(e) Lubricating oils including, but not limited to, any oil
intended for use in a crankcase, transmission, engine, power
steering, gearbox, differential chainsaw, transformer dielectric
fluid, cutting, hydraulic, industrial, or automobile, bus, truck,
vessel, plane, train, heavy equipment, or machinery powered by an
internal combustion engine.
(f) (1) Plastic products including, but not limited to, printer or
duplication cartridges, diskette, carpet, office products, plastic
lumber, buckets, wastebaskets, containers, benches, tables, fencing,
clothing, mats, packaging, signs, posts, binders, sheet, buckets,
building products, garden hose, and trays.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, "printer or duplication
cartridges" has the same meaning as described in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (f) of Section 12209.
(g) Paint, including, but not limited to, water-based paint,
graffiti abatement, interior and exterior, and maintenance.
(h) Antifreeze, including recycled antifreeze, and antifreeze
containing a bittering agent or made from polypropylene or other
similar nontoxic substance.
(i) Tires including, but not limited to, truck and bus tires, and
those used on fleet vehicles and passenger cars.
(j) Tire-derived products including, but not limited to, flooring,
mats, wheelchair ramps, playground cover, parking bumpers, bullet
traps, hoses, bumpers, truck bedliners, pads, walkways, tree ties,
road surfacing, wheel chocks, rollers, traffic control products,
mudflaps, and posts.
(k) Metal including, but not limited to, staplers, paper clips,
steel furniture, desks, pedestals, scissors, jacks, rebar, pipe,
plumbing fixtures, chairs, ladders, file cabinets, shelving,
containers, lockers, sheet metal, girders, building and construction
products, bridges, braces, nails, and screws.
12209. For purposes of this article, the following minimum content
requirements apply:
(a) Recycled paper products shall consist of at least 30 percent,
by fiber weight, postconsumer fiber.
(b) (1) Recycled printing and writing paper shall consist of at
least 30 percent, by fiber weight, postconsumer fiber.
(2) Printed newspapers that meet the requirements of Chapter 15
(commencing with Section 42750) of Part 3 of Division 30 of the
Public Resources Code shall be considered in compliance with the
requirements of this section.
(c) For recycled compost, cocompost, and mulch, at least 80
percent of the product shall consist of materials, including, but not
limited to, the materials listed in subdivision (c) of Section
12207, that would otherwise be normally disposed of in landfills.
(d) For recycled glass, the total weight shall consist of at least
10 percent postconsumer material.
(e) Rerefined lubricating oil shall have a base oil content
consisting of at least 70 percent rerefined oil.
(f) (1) For recycled plastic products, other than printer or
duplication cartridges, the total weight shall consist of at least 10
percent postconsumer material.
(2) Recycled printer or duplication cartridges shall comply with
either the requirements set forth in subdivision (e) of Section 12156
or the general requirement for recycled plastic products set forth
in paragraph (1).
(g) Recycled paint shall have a recycled content consisting of at
least 50 percent postconsumer paint. Preconsumer or secondary paint
does not qualify as "recycled paint" pursuant to this subdivision. If
paint containing 50 percent postconsumer content is unavailable, or
is restricted by a local air quality management district, a state
agency may substitute paint with at least 10 percent postconsumer
content.
(h) Recycled antifreeze fluid shall have a recycled content of at
least 70 percent postconsumer materials.
(i) Retreaded tires must use an existing casing that has undergone
an approved or accepted recapping or retreading process, in
accordance with Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 42400) of Part 3
of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code.
(j) For tire-derived products, the total content shall consist of
at least 50 percent recycled used tires.
(k) For recycled metal products, the total weight shall consist of
at least 10 percent postconsumer material.
(l) For reused or refurbished products, there is no minimum
content requirement.
12211. (a) Each state agency shall report annually to the board
their progress in meeting the recycled product purchasing
requirements using the SABRC report format provided by the board.
(b) On or before October 31 of each year, the department shall
provide to the board the following information:
(1) A list, by category, of individual reportable recycled
products, materials, goods, and supplies that were available for
purchase by state agencies from a statewide-use contract, agreement,
or schedule during the previous fiscal year.
(2) A list, by category, of all reportable products, materials,
goods, and supplies that were available for purchase by state
agencies from a statewide-use contract, agreement, or schedule,
including contract, agreement, or schedule tracking numbers, during
the previous fiscal year.
(c) The board shall annually provide an agency-specific report to
the Legislature identifying all state agency SABRC reporting figures.
(d) Every three years, the board shall provide, as part of the
report described in subdivision (c), recommendations to the
Legislature for changes necessary to increase the purchase of
recycled content products, materials, goods, and supplies and improve
SABRC program efficiency.
12215. Each state agency may, at the discretion of the individual
agency director or his or her designee, print a statement on recycled
products selected by the agency director. This statement shall be
determined by the department, in consultation with the board, and
shall be similar to the following: "Contains at least ____ percent
postconsumer material."
12217. (a) If at any time a requirement has not been met, the
department, in consultation with the board, shall review purchasing
policies and shall make recommendations for immediate revisions to
ensure that the recycled product purchasing requirements are met.
(b) In determining purchasing specifications, with the exception
of any specifications that have been established to preserve the
public health and safety, all state purchasing specifications shall
be established in a manner that results in the maximum state purchase
of recycled products.
(c) If a recycled product, as defined in subdivision (h) of
Section 12200, costs more than the same product made with virgin
material, the state agency shall, if feasible, purchase fewer of
those more costly products or apply the cost savings, if any, gained
from buying other recycled products towards the purchase of those
more costly products to meet the solid waste diversion goals of
Section 41780.
(d) Each state agency shall establish purchasing practices that
ensure the purchase of goods and materials that may be recycled or
reused. Each state agency shall continue activities for the
collection, separation, and recycling of recyclable materials and may
appoint a recycling coordinator to assist in implementing this
section.
(e) To assist the state in meeting the requirements of this
article, each state agency, and the department, in consultation with
the board, may also establish recycled product-only bids, cooperative
purchasing arrangements, or other mechanisms to meet the
requirements for recycled products and to encourage the maximum state
purchase of recycled products.
(f) The department, in consultation with the board, shall review
and revise the purchasing specifications used by state agencies in
order to eliminate restrictive specifications and discrimination
against the purchase of recycled products and to ensure that they are
drafted in a manner that results in the maximum state purchase of
recycled products. All contract provisions impeding the consideration
of recycled products shall be deleted in favor of performance
standards.
(g) Any state agency that is required to submit an SABRC report to
the board, pursuant to Section 12211, is subject to a review
conducted by the board or its designee.