(a) Definition. Soil amendments are materials that enhance the physical characteristics of soil through improving water retention or drainage, improving nutrient cycling, promoting microbial growth, or changing the soil's pH. This category excludes foliar sprays and chemical fertilizers.
(b) Minimum biobased content. The Federal preferred procurement product must have a minimum 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 total organic carbon in the finished product.
(c) Preference compliance date. No later than July 6, 2020, procuring agencies, in accordance with this part, will give a procurement preference for qualifying biobased soil amendments. By that date, Federal agencies responsible for drafting or reviewing specifications for products to be procured shall ensure that the relevant specifications require the use of biobased soil amendments.
(d) Determining overlap with a designated product category in the EPA's CPG program. Qualifying products within this product category may overlap with the EPA's CPG-designated recovered content product categories of Landscaping Products: Compost Made From Recovered Organic Materials and Landscaping Products: Fertilizer Made From Recovered Organic Materials. USDA is requesting that manufacturers of these qualifying biobased products provide information on the BioPreferred Program's website about the intended uses of the product, information on whether 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 a qualifying biobased product overlaps with the EPA's CPG-designated product categories Landscaping Products: Compost Made From Recovered Organic Materials and Landscaping Products: Fertilizer Made From Recovered Organic Materials and which product should be afforded the preference in purchasing.
Note 1 to Paragraph (d): Soil amendments within this designated product category can compete with similar soil amendments with recycled content. Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, section 6002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency CPG-designated Landscaping Products: Compost Made From Recovered Organic Materials and Landscaping Products: Fertilizer Made From Recovered Organic Materials containing recovered materials as products for which Federal agencies must give preference in their purchasing programs. The designation can be found in the Comprehensive Procurement Guideline, 40 CFR 247.15.
[84 FR 32021, July 5, 2019]
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