2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWELVE - Conservation (§§ 1-16 — 8162) › Subtitle 5 - Environment (§§ 1120 — 1436) › Chapter 127A - Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling (§§ 1320 — 1320u) › § 1320j-1 - Purchasing preferences

(a) Within nine (9) months from the effective date of this act, all public agencies and municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in coordination with the Authority, shall revise and amend their purchasing specifications in such a way as to stimulate an increase in the purchase of recycled or recyclable products. This shall be achieved through the following measures:
(1) Agency and municipality, in cooperation with the General Services Administration, shall establish an affirmative policy for the purchase of products with a content of recycled material as defined by the guidelines of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or other specifications developed by the Authority. Each agency and municipality shall amend their regulations for the purchase and sale of materials in such a way that suppliers are bound to indicate the percentage of the content of post consumer recycled material contained in their products. The suppliers shall also be informed that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico expects to see an increase in the amount of recycled and recyclable products that are acquired.
(2) When acquiring products with recycled or non-recycled contents to be used by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, each agency must purchase products containing recycled materials with preference to products recycled in Puerto Rico when the price is reasonably competitive and the quality is adequate for the projected use. For purposes of this section, “reasonably competitive” means a comparable product containing recycled material, with a price increase not greater than 15%. This increase in cost, or price preference, shall expire ten (10) years after the effective date of this act.
(3) The Solid Waste Authority shall establish, through an executive order to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, the recyclable material that it identifies and authorizes to be acquired by all public agencies, instrumentalities and municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in cooperation with the General Services Administration, according to the definitions of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and other specifications developed by the Authority. Among the products to be acquired by every agency, instrumentality and municipality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are the following:
(A) Each agency, instrumentality and municipality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall establish steps to increase the purchase of recycled fiber paper, ensuring that at least ten percent (10%) of the paper that is purchased by 1995 contains 50% recycled fiber, fifteen percent (15%) by 1996, twenty percent (20%) by 1997 and twenty-five percent (25%) by 1998 in compliance with § 1320n of this title. When a public agency acquires and uses recycled paper for printing, it shall require that the printed material includes a label or symbol indicating that the document has been printed on paper containing postconsumer recycled products.
(B) Each agency or municipality shall also purchase restored batteries. Said acquisition shall be of ten percent (10%) by 2006, fifteen percent (15%) by 2007 and not less than thirty-five percent (35%) from 2008 onward. The agency or municipality shall create internal mechanisms pursuant to applicable to laws for the sale, transfer, or delivery of the batteries used by its vehicles as defined in this clause to accredited recycling companies.
(C) Retreaded tires to be purchased shall be used in semi-heavy and heavy vehicles, if available, in gauge 17 up to gauge 24.5. At least ten percent (10%) of the retreaded tires shall be acquired by 2006, fifteen percent (15%) by 2007, and twenty percent (20%) by 2008 and from 2009 onward, never less than twenty-five percent (25%).
(D) Buffers made and manufactured with raw material recycled in Puerto Rico or in any other jurisdiction of the United States of America shall be installed in every new warehouse that is built or in any warehouse that is subjected to repairs or remodeling owned by the Government of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities and its municipalities, where vehicles for the delivery and dispatch of merchandise are received.
(i) Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, as of the approval of this act, in every warehouse of the Government of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities and its municipalities where the replacement of buffers is required, buffers made and manufactured with raw material recycled in Puerto Rico or in any other jurisdiction of the United States of America shall be installed.
(4) It shall be the responsibility of each public agency to identify and amend any law, regulation or public policy applicable to it, that discourages or suppresses recycling or the reduction of the volume of generated solid waste, or that needlessly favors the use of virgin material instead of recycled material within 12 months from the approval of this act.
(5) Within six (6) months from the effective date of this act, the General Services Administration shall establish formal procedures to verify the vendors’ certifications on the percentage of post consumer recycled materials contained in their products.
(6) Notwithstanding any law otherwise applicable, whenever a municipality is purchasing products, with or without post consumer recycled material, if the price is reasonably competitive and the quality is adequate for the projected use, it shall purchase, at least five percent (5%) until Fiscal Year 2004-2005 and in subsequent years at least ten percent (10%), products containing recycled material with preference for those products containing the highest amount possible of recycled material or recycled fiber that are reasonably competitive. For the purposes of this section, “reasonably competitive” means a comparable product containing recycled material with a price increase of not more than fifteen percent (15%).
(b) Within one (1) year from the effective date of this act, and once a year thereafter, the director of each agency shall inform the General Services Administration of the status of the activities carried out under this section. The General Services Administration, in coordination with the Authority, shall submit an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature that summarizes the activities of the different agencies, and makes recommendations for programs and policies that stimulate the use of recovered material to be reused in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
History —Sept. 18, 1992, No. 70, added as § 14 on Jan. 20, 1995, No. 13, § 12; Sept. 7, 2004, No. 254, § 1; Sept. 1, 2006, No. 195, § 1; Dec. 14, 2007, No. 201, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2008.