What Constitutes “Recycled” Paper The Issue Many government procurement guidelines, including those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, distinguish between recovered fiber based on the point of collection (i.e. “pre-consumer” and “post-consumer”) Our Position The Paper Recycling Coalition believes that government guidelines should not distinguish between recovered fiber based on the point of collection. Our Approach We support maximizing the recycling of all paper fiber. Creating distinctions between the points of collection (e.g. “pre-consumer” and “post-consumer”) creates unnecessary barriers to recycling. Making a distinction between the sources of the paper does not help alleviate the solid waste problem, nor does it ensure that all fiber available for recycling is actually recycled. Regardless of where the recovered paper was used, it must still go through the same recycling process in our mills. Even though our products would meet most standards, the Paper Recycling Coalition does not support minimum recycled content standards. We believe that genuine market demand for our products, rather than government mandates, will ultimately increase the recycling rate. We prefer to use the term “recovered paper” to represent our raw materials and the terms “recycled paper” and “recycled content paper” to describe our products. For More Information The American Forest & Paper Association’s Position on Content Requirements The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines