Return for Disassembly and Recycling

Return for Disassembly and Recycling is a consideration in Government of Canada procurement guidance. It asks whether a good can be returned to the manufacturer for recycling, recycled locally, accepted through a consumables-recycling program, and easily disassembled. Federal procurement personnel use these questions when they define a requirement.

The heading appears in the CanadaBuys Supply Manual, in the annexes to chapter 2, which covers defining the requirement and receiving a requisition. It sits alongside other considerations such as warranties and packaging. Together they help a buyer think about what happens to a good, and the materials around it, when its useful life ends. The full guidance is on CanadaBuys.

The four questions behind the heading

The guidance breaks the consideration into four questions that a buyer can ask about a good before a solicitation is written:

• Manufacturer return: does the good come with a policy under which the manufacturer takes it back for recycling?
• Local recycling: can the good be recycled in the geographic area where the end user is located?
• Consumables: will consumables, including toner cartridges, be accepted for recycling?
• Disassembly: is the good easily disassembled?

These are framed as questions for defining a requirement. A buyer who answers them early can write a requirement that reflects end-of-life handling, rather than treating disposal as an afterthought.

Packaging obligations in the same guidance

The same CanadaBuys guidance sets out packaging expectations that reach suppliers directly. Where the solicitation or contract incorporates these packaging requirements, the bidder, offeror or supplier carries the following responsibilities:

• Recyclable packaging must be accepted at the local recycling facilities that serve the delivery location.
• The supplier must verify with the contracting authority whether reusable packaging can be reused by the end user.
• Packaging that cannot be recycled or reused by the end user must be taken back by the supplier at no additional cost to Canada.

The take-back rule is the firmest of the three. A supplier that ships a good in packaging the delivery location cannot recycle, and that the end user cannot reuse, is responsible for collecting that packaging and absorbing the cost. The guidance is published in the Supply Manual annexes.

Where the term sits in federal procurement

The Canadian use of the term is as a requirement-definition checklist heading within CanadaBuys supply-management guidance. It directs federal procurement personnel to consider return, disassembly and recycling when they develop a requirement. It is part of the planning stage, before a tender notice is published and before bidders respond.

Because it is a planning consideration, its effect on a given solicitation depends on what the buyer carries into the requirement. A buyer who finds that a good has a manufacturer take-back policy, or that its consumables are accepted for recycling, can reflect that in the specifications. The packaging obligations apply when the solicitation or contract incorporates them.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

Suppliers should be ready to answer the same four questions a federal buyer asks. Know whether your product has a take-back or return-for-recycling program, whether it can be recycled where the end user is located, whether your consumables such as toner cartridges have a recycling route, and how easily the product comes apart.

On packaging, check the solicitation for the packaging requirements and plan for delivery. Confirm that your packaging is accepted by recycling facilities at the delivery location, ask the contracting authority whether reusable packaging can be reused, and price in the cost of taking back any packaging that cannot be recycled or reused, since Canada does not pay for it separately.