President Clinton's Executive Order No. 13101, issued this week, attempts to put some teeth in the federal government's recycled procurement policy. According to a federal environment executive, Fran McPoland, federal auditors will be able to check federal agency compliance with recycled purchasing and issue fines as for other environmental laws. There is no incentive to experiment with new recycled products for mainstream corporate America. States can't implement laws without staff budgets. Barriers to creation of large end markets for used plastics remain high.
Retailers are nearly out of the loop.
Retailers are in the best position to change corporate feedstock practices, but their interest in green purchasing has waned. The report will be available electronically by the end of September.