Closing the Loop:
Buying Products Made with Recycled Materials

Returning your beverage containers, newspapers and other recyclable products is the first step in the recycling process. You can take the next step by shopping for products made with recycled materials. Recycled products have the same high quality as goods made from virgin materials – some-times even higher. When you buy recycled, you "close the loop" or complete the recycling process. When you buy goods with recycled content, your purchases help to create a demand for materials collected in recycling programs. Buying products that contain recycled materials also helps conserve natural resources, protects the environment, and prolongs limited landfill space.

Buyer Beware! Recycled vs. Recyclable

Not all products that are marked with the recycling symbol or that make claims such as "environmentally friendly," "eco-safe," "safe for the environment," or "natural" are made with recycled content or can be recycled in your community. Most products advertised as recycled are not made completely from recycled materials. Instead, they are made with some percentage of virgin materials. For example copy paper may have a total recycled content of 50%, comprised of 30% pre-consumer or secondary waste materials and 20% post-consumer waste. The remaining 50% is made from virgin materials.

When shopping, look for labels indicating the item contains recycled content. To see if a product is actually made with recycled materials, look for a solid circle with chasing arrows inside. This is your key to knowing that you're spending your dollars on a recycled product. If possible, choose products made from post-consumer material. If recycled content products are not carried in your local store, ask the store manager to stock products made with recycled materials. Encourage others in your office, school, business and community to buy recycled products.

A claim that a product is "recyclable" does not mean that the product is made from recycled waste material. It simply means that it could be collected, reprocessed and resold as another product. However, whether or not it is actually recyclable depends on whether your community collects the materials or whether a local recycler accepts that type of material. Read the labels carefully and know what is and is not acceptable in your recycling program.

Four "Buy Recycled" Myths

Here are four common myths and misconceptions about buying recycled:

Recycled products are hard to find. This used to be true, but no longer. From the neighborhood grocery store to national retailers, stores sell thousands of products made from or packaged in recycled content material.

Recycled paper isn't as good as non recycled paper. Recycled content papers now share the same printing and performance characteristics as their virgin equivalent. Recycled papers no longer look different. You can now find recycled content papers with the same whiteness and brightness as virgin papers. They also offer the same level of runnability and high quality imaging on copiers, and laser and ink jet printers.

Recycled products cost more. This used to be the case for some materials, but things have changed. Many recycled products are priced competitively with their non recycled counterparts. In fact, some may be less expensive!

Recycled products are inferior in quality. This is simply not true. Recycled products have the same quality, reliability, and dependability. A 1996 survey by the Buy Recycled Business Alliance asked hundreds of corporate purchasing agents about their satisfaction with recycled content products. The survey results showed that 97% of respondents were pleased with the performance of recycled content products.

Recycled Products You Can Buy

Some examples of products made with recycled materials:

Home and Office

• Paper products - cereal, cake mix and cracker boxes, facial tissues, toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, writing paper, and greeting cards
• Plastic bags, detergent bottles, and cleaning supplies
• Copier and printer paper, envelopes
• Notepads, legal pads, folders and binders
• Transparencies
• Toner cartridges (recharged)
• Bulletin boards
• Pens, pencils, scissors, and rulers
• Corrugated cardboard containers, shipping mailers
• Polystyrene peanuts, air bubble cushioning material
• Garden hoses, compost bins
• Mulch and compost
• Clothing and shoes

• Plastic lumber for landscaping, decks, parking stops, benches, and picnic tables
• Steel framing for construction
• Aluminum gutter, down spouts, siding
• Roofing, wallboard, wallpaper, and flooring
• Insulation
• Paint
• Carpeting, tiles, and mats
• Playground equipment
• Automobiles (the average automobile has 44% recycled steel content)
• Re-refined oil
• Retreaded tires
• Used/rebuilt parts