Plastic Bags

Green purchasing guidance for plastic bags, including composting, trash, recycling, and medical waste bags.

Required specifications

The following have been identified as green specifications relevant to the good/services as minimum mandatory requirements. These would not be part of a scored exhibit. If you are using the Washington state procurement manual templates, the following should be inserted in the relevant document that describes the product or performance requirements.

  • State purchasing of recycled-content products.  Black, gray or brown plastic bags – also called trash can liners – made of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) must have at least 10% post-consumer recycled content, which meets the U.S. EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guideline (CPG) for Plastic Bags. 
  • Biodegradable plastic bags must be certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) and have the BPI logo and the words compostable printed on the bag. 
  • All medical waste bags shall be cadmium-free.  All medical waste bags shall be plastic, red in color, impervious to moisture, marked prominently with the universal warning sign or the word ‘biohazard’, and be of a strength sufficient to resist ripping, tearing, or bursting under normal conditions of use and handling by current U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. 
  • Body bags must be free of PVC and other sources of chlorine to be cremation compatible. Contractors shall identify all products that contain PFAS (e.g., Goretex, PTFE and other materials and chemical treatments).

 

Preferred specifications

The following have been identified as green specifications relevant to the goods/services as preferred specifications to be scored. These would be part of your evaluation. If you are using the Washington state procurement manual templates, the following should be inserted in the relevant document that is used for evaluation.

  • State purchasing of recycled-content product. Recycled Content Purchasing Preference Policy (DES-255-00) states, “In establishing environmental requirements and preferences for products that contain recycled materials, agencies shall reference the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (EPA CPGs) as the minimum standards for the state of Washington.” 

  • Statutory Preference for Recycled Content Purchasing. Pursuant to RCW 39.26.255, Enterprise Services is providing a bid preference in the amount of ten percent (10%) per product line item tested to any bidder that provides products that have exceeded one of the recommended content level percentages or the minimum product specification, as designated by the current EPA’s CPG standard. Bidders who seek to obtain the 10 percent (10%) bid preference in Exhibit C-Bid Price must identify the recycled content level of the product or indicate the product meets product specifications in Exhibit C – Bid Price.

  • Certification by UL ECOLOGO (multi-attribute standard)

  • Recycled content verified by third party (e.g., Scientific Certification Systems (SCS))

Laws, rules, and executive orders

These laws, rules, and executive orders are the basis for these specifications: