The Comprehensive Procurement Guideline (CPG) program is part of the EPA's continuing effort to promote the use of materials recovered from solid waste. Buying recycled-content products ensures that the materials collected in recycling programs will be used again in the manufacture of new products.

EPA is required to designate products that are or can be made with recovered materials, and to recommend practices for buying these products. Once a product is designated, procuring agencies are required to purchase it with the highest recovered material content level practicable.

The EPA is required to consider several criteria when determining which items it will designate, including the availability of the item; the potential impact of procurement on the solid waste stream; the economic and technological feasibility of producing the item; and other uses of the recovered materials used to produce the item. EPA also considers comments from end users, manufacturers, distributors, the general public, and other interested parties through a formal rulemaking process to designate items.