Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993 TAG: 9310210222
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
President Clinton signed an executive order setting higher standards for the recycled content of some 300,000 tons of paper the federal government purchases annually, requiring federal agencies by 1994 to buy stock made of at least 20 percent of paper thrown out by consumers and recycled. By the end of 1998, writing and printing paper purchased by the federal government would have to contain 30 percent recycled material.
"It's time for the government to set an example and provide real leadership that will help create jobs and protect the environment, encouraging new markets for recycled products and new technologies," Clinton said.
The move was hailed by recycling proponents and by state and municipal officials, who have looked to the federal government to help create new markets for the mountains of recyclable waste accumulated in landfills.
Vice President Al Gore announced the initiative during a campaign appearance for embattled New York Mayor David Dinkins, now in the final weeks of a tough re-election campaign.
Gore said the order will create a strong market for paper now being collected by 5,500 community recycling programs nationwide. One out of three Americans now bundle their newspapers at home or separate their office paper at work for collection by such programs. But a weak market for recycled paper products has left many such programs struggling to survive.
The executive order unveiled Wednesday marks one of the first clear victories the administration has handed environmentalists since it took office. Administration officials said the plan's job-creating potential helped the president resist heavy lobbying from the American pulp and paper industry to adopt looser federal standards.
"What may be different about this is that paper recycling is vested with enormous importance, because average Americans have come to understand that one of the first things they can do to align their life with the environmental ethic is to recycle paper," said Fred Krupp, Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Clinton did not, however, resist a last-minute appeal from Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, the Senate majority leader, who sought an exemption to broaden the definition of recycled materials to include sawdust.
Also included in the executive order are measures that would allow the federal government, for the first time, to buy paper produced without the use of chlorine - a bleaching chemical that produces dioxin in water and is associated with cancer, birth defects and nervous system disorders.
Peter Freyne, a spokesman for Lyons Falls Pulp and Paper Co. in New York, one of the only producers of chlorine-free paper products in North America, called Clinton's executive order "a crack in the door." But he added, "that's all it takes" to prompt rethinking nationwide on the need for bleached paper.
The executive order also requires the federal government to fit its vehicles with retread tires and use motor oil that has been recycled.
by CNB