EPA Says "Buy Reman Parts"

June 1, 2004

Chantilly, Virginia – On April 30th the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new Recovered Material Advisory Notice that very belatedly recognizes the environmental benefits of using rebuilt motor vehicle parts and creates a preference for their use in Federal government procurement.

Under the terms of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) EPA is to designate goods which are or can be made with recycled or recovered materials. Once an item is so designated, RCRA requires that procuring agencies must purchase items of that type that have the highest percentage of recovered materials practicable. Procuring agencies include Federal agencies, state agencies to the extent they are using Federal funds and contractors working for such agencies.

William C. Gager, APRA President, stated, “This is welcome news to the automotive and truck parts remanufacturing industry -- well deserved recognition for an industry that has been quietly making positive contributions toward protecting the environment for the past 75 years. ”

For rebuilt vehicle parts EPA recommends, “that procuring agencies whose vehicles (passenger vehicles as well as medium- and heavy-duty equipment, including trucks, cranes, off-road vehicles, and military vehicles) are serviced by a motor pool or vehicle maintenance facility, establish a service contract to require the use of rebuilt vehicular parts in the agencies’ vehicles or establish a program for vehicular parts rebuilding and reuse consisting of either recovering a used vehicular part and rebuilding it, replacing it with a rebuilt part or contracting to have the part replaced with a rebuilt part.”

The only specifications which have to be met for eligible parts is that they must be processed in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s “Guides for the Rebuilt, Reconditioned and Other Used Automotive Parts Industry” and that the part must be tested for compliance with the FTC Guides and defects corrected as necessary. Unlike many other designated parts the EPA did not specify that an eligible rebuilt part needed to contain a minimum percentage of recycled or recovered material probably because this is very difficult to show from part to part.

This new recommendation will require agency contracting officers and those contractors servicing agency vehicles or providing parts for them, to look for sources of rebuilt parts and to use them if they are available. Therefore, rebuilders should look more diligently for government contracting opportunities in their area and the non-governmental facilities that are servicing government vehicles locally.

Federal Register Notice