Clinton Orders Government to Use Only Recycled Paper

The government, which buys more than 20 billion sheets of copier paper each year, will purchase and use only recycled printing and writing paper under an executive order signed by President Clinton.

The executive order, titled “Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition,” was signed by Clinton this month. It builds on a previous executive order, issued in 1993, that set Clinton’s first recycling goals for federal agencies.

In the new order, Clinton directs agencies to purchase or use paper products that contain at least 30% “post-consumer” fiber by Jan. 1. The order defines post-consumer material as a product that has served its intended use and been discarded.

The government now buys paper products with at least 20% post-consumer content, but agencies can opt out of the requirement when purchases are not cost-effective or such paper is not readily available. The new order no longer gives agencies that discretion.

To oversee the stepped-up recycling effort, the order creates a “green government” task force chaired by Fran McPoland, now the interagency recycling coordinator based at the Environmental Protection Agency. Other task force members are Kathleen A. McGinty, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Deidre Lee, the Office of Management and Budget official in charge of federal procurement policy.

The order contains a provision that directs the EPA to audit federal agencies for compliance with recycling rules.

The order also strengthens the administration’s commitment to the use of “environmentally preferable products and services,” a provision championed by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Harkin wrote to Vice President Gore last year suggesting ways to increase federal purchases of “bio-based” products, such as solvents and lubricants made from soy and building materials made from wheat straw and corn stalks.