Buy Recycled

What is buying recycled?

By buying recycled you help "close the recycling loop" by putting the materials collected through recycling programs back to good use as products in the marketplace. Governments can promote buying recycled products through their own purchasing programs and guidelines. Manufacturers can participate as well by using recycled materials in their products.

Where can recycled-content products be purchased?

Visit the EPA's Buy Recycled page for information on identifying recycled-content products, related organizations, publications and product information.

Purchase products with the highest post-consumer content

Post-consumer content comes from materials that have been used and recycled by consumers such as newspaper and aluminum cans.

Pre-consumer content comes from materials generated in the manufacturing process such as scrap, trimmings and cuttings. Pre-consumer content includes print overruns, over-issue publications and obsolete inventories.

When shopping, request products with recycled content

Help create the demand for recycled-content products by requesting them when shopping. If stores get enough demand for recycled-content products it is likely that they will start stocking them.