Government

Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines
The Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG) are a key component of the government's "buy-recycled" program. This Web area offers information about the CPG, as well as EPA's Recovered Materials Advisory Notices (RMANs), which recommend recycled-content levels for CPG items. The Web area features EPA's list of designated products and the accompanying recycled-content recommendations. It also contains a series of fact sheets summarizing information on the CPG Program including EPA's recovered materials content recommendations; case studies from around the country; and key resources, associations, and Web sites. EPA's CPG Supplier Database, a searchable database of vendors that sell or distribute CPG-designated products with recycled content, is also available.

Full Cost Accounting
This Web area provides information on Full Cost Accounting (FCA), a commonsense approach to identifying and assessing the cost of managing solid waste operations. FCA offers a framework to aid decision-makers with short- and long-term program planning and helps identify measures for streamlining and improving operations. This Web area contains lists of state government contacts and local government contacts. It links to EPA and other documents that are applicable to a nationwide audience, as well as state government handbooks and other materials that explain how the implementation of FCA can benefit a community.

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Pay-As-You-Throw
Traditionally, residents pay for waste collection through property taxes or a fixed fee, regardless of how much—or how little—trash they generate. Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) is a municipal arrangement that breaks with tradition by asking households to pay a variable rate depending on the amount of waste they throw. The PAYT Web area features case studies of communities that have adopted various PAYT programs; provides research, reports, and other publications that discuss PAYT initiatives; and offers practical tools such as a rate-structure design manual and discussions of PAYT issues arranged by topic. Issues of the PAYT Bulletin are also available.

Recycling Measurement
EPA developed a voluntary, standard methodology for measuring recycling rates. Utilizing this methodology can help state and local government officials accurately evaluate the success of their recycling programs and ensure that their fiscal, administrative, and planning decisions are sound. These resources allow users to access a variety of recycling measurement documents and tools including a "translator" tool to calculate recycling rates based on the EPA standard methodology.

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