CFR > Title 7 - Agriculture > SUBTITLE B—Regulations of the Department of Agriculture > CHAPTER XXIX—OFFICE OF ENERGY POLICY AND NEW USES, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (parts 2900 to 2903) > PART 2902—GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNATING BIOBASED PRODUCTS FOR FEDERAL PROCUREMENT > SUBPART B—Designated Items (§2902.10 to §2902.60) > 2902.21—Disposable containers.

2902.21—Disposable containers.

(a) Definition. Products designed to be used for temporary storage or transportation of materials including, but not limited to, food items.
(b) Minimum biobased content. The preferred procurement product must have a biobased content of at least 72 percent, which shall be based on the amount of qualifying biobased carbon in the product as a percent of the weight (mass) of the total organic carbon in the finished product.
(c) Biodegradability. At the time a manufacturer offers a product under this item for Federal purchase under the BioPreferred Program, the preferred procurement product must be capable of meeting the current version of ASTM D6400 if disposed of in a non-marine environment, the current version of ASTM D7081 if disposed of in a marine environment, or other appropriate and applicable standard for biodegradability.
(d) Determining overlap with an EPA-designated recovered content product. Qualifying biobased products that fall under this item may, in some cases, overlap with the EPA-designated recovered content product: Paper and Paper Products. USDA is requesting that manufacturers of these qualifying biobased products provide information on the BioPreferred Web site of qualifying biobased products about the intended uses of the product, information on whether or not the product contains any recovered material, in addition to biobased ingredients, and performance standards against which the product has been tested. This information will assist Federal agencies in determining whether or not a qualifying biobased product overlaps with EPA-designated paper and paper products and which product should be afforded the preference in purchasing.

Code of Federal Regulations

Note to paragraph (d): Disposable containers can include boxes and packaging made from paper. Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, section 6002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated paper and paper products containing recovered materials as items for which Federal agencies must give preference in their purchasing programs. The designation can be found in the Comprehensive Procurement Guideline, 40 CFR 247.10 . EPA provides recovered materials content recommendations for paper and paper products in the Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) published for these products. The RMAN recommendations can be found on EPA's Web site http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/procure/products.htm and then clicking on the appropriate product name.
(e) Preference compliance date. No later than May 14, 2009, procuring agencies, in accordance with this part, will give a procurement preference for qualifying biobased disposable containers. By that date, Federal agencies that have the responsibility for drafting or reviewing specifications for items to be procured shall ensure that the relevant specifications require the use of biobased disposable containers.

Code of Federal Regulations

[73 FR 27953, May 14, 2008]