Should an RFP require a specific recycling facility?

Usually, specify the required outcome, permitted destination, records, and audit rights instead of naming one facility. Allow a bidder to propose an appropriate independent permitted operator, then verify permits, capacity, route, material acceptance, and backup arrangements during evaluation.

What data should a multi-site buyer provide first?

Start with site addresses, access rules, operating hours, current services, invoices, pickup history, weights in pounds, material descriptions, contamination or residue notes, contract dates, and local requirements. Label missing or estimated information so bidders can price the uncertainty.

Can I put a 90% diversion target in the RFP?

You can set a target if you define the streams, period, denominator, destinations, contamination treatment, and evidence. Do not describe the target as TRUE certification. TRUE has separate eligibility, minimum program, points, data, and contamination requirements, including 90% or more average diversion over 12 months.

Does a waste weight report complete Scope 3 Category 5?

No. A weight report is a mass input. A Category 5 inventory also needs a defined system boundary, treatment route, geography, time period, emission factors, and calculation method. Keep waste records auditable and let the inventory owner document the emissions approach.

What to put in a waste and recycling RFP

Start with a clear operating picture

Describe the portfolio before you describe the service. Name each location, address or service area, operating hours, access limits, security rules, loading conditions, tenant or department responsibilities, and expected start date. If the RFP covers several countries or states, identify the legal entity and local contact for each location. A bidder cannot price or design a route well when a site is only a name on a spreadsheet.

Provide recent records for each site when they exist. Useful records include invoices, container schedules, pickup history, material descriptions, weights in pounds, contamination notes, residue information, and known special streams. State the period covered and explain gaps. EPA procurement guidance recommends sharing goals, local rules, operating statistics, material composition, residue rates, costs, and other background information so proposals can be more precise. Read the EPA procurement guidance before you finalize the data room.

Define what success means without assuming a single answer. You may want reliable service, lower disposal, better source separation, reuse pathways, compliant handling, useful reporting, or a credible plan for improvement. Separate required outcomes from preferred approaches. Ask bidders to explain assumptions and identify where site audits are needed.

Write the scope so every stream has an owner

List the streams your sites actually generate. Depending on the portfolio, that may include landfill waste, mixed recycling, organics, cardboard, confidential materials, universal waste, electronics, construction debris, textiles, used cooking oil, or other regulated materials. For each stream, state the expected container or service format, collection frequency, presentation rules, contamination response, emergency contact, and destination documentation. If a stream is out of scope, say so plainly.

Ask for a site-level service plan, not only a corporate overview. The response should show proposed equipment, staffing responsibilities, access assumptions, backup arrangements, and coordination between the program manager and each independent permitted operator. Request permits and authorizations relevant to the work, but let bidders explain how local requirements apply. Do not ask for a guarantee that cannot be measured. Define how missed service, unsafe conditions, contamination, or a changed site profile will be recorded and resolved.

Make chain of custody part of the scope. Your RFP should ask how material is identified from pickup through transfer, processing, reuse, recycling, recovery, or disposal. Specify the records you need, such as tickets, manifests, weight records, facility names, disposition descriptions, and exception notes. If data is estimated, the report should label it as estimated and explain the method. You can also link the operational standard to Anchor's chain of custody approach.

Include a reporting calendar and a sample report shape. Ask for site and portfolio views, pounds by stream, service events, exceptions, destination information, and changes from the prior period. Keep operational records separate from environmental claims. A mass record tells you what was measured or estimated. It is not, by itself, a greenhouse gas emissions result.

Handle diversion, Scope 3, and standards carefully

Define diversion in the RFP before you score it. State which destinations count and whether reuse, recycling, composting, recovery, landfill, incineration, or waste-to-energy are reported separately. Ask bidders to show the numerator, denominator, measurement period, and treatment of contamination and residue. Avoid a single percentage with no boundary. A high reported rate can mean something different when one bidder excludes rejected loads and another includes them.

If your company needs waste data for Scope 3 Category 5, ask for the inputs needed for a later emissions calculation rather than asking an operator to label pounds as emissions. The GHG Protocol Scope 3 guidance describes Category 5 as waste generated in operations and provides methods for waste treatment, including recycling and waste-to-energy. Your specification should require the mass basis, treatment route, geography, time period, emission factors, system boundary, and calculation method used by whoever prepares the inventory. Category 5 concerns waste generated in your operations. It is distinct from end-of-life treatment of products you sell, which belongs in a different Scope 3 category.

You can reference voluntary frameworks without promising an outcome. TRUE certification applies to an eligible physical facility and its operations. The facility must meet seven minimum program requirements, reach at least 31 points, and demonstrate average diversion of 90% or more from landfill, incineration including waste-to-energy, and the environment for solid, non-hazardous waste over 12 months. The project also submits 12 months of data annually and must meet contamination requirements. Read the official TRUE program description and the current rating materials before using TRUE language in a procurement. Ask for documented experience or a plan to evaluate eligibility. Do not promise certification in the RFP.

For California sites, keep the date and material scope visible. CalRecycle's current textile stewardship timeline says covered product producers must join the approved producer responsibility organization by July 1, 2026. It says regulations take effect no earlier than July 1, 2028, and the plan is to be fully implemented in 2031. That is a textile stewardship timeline, not a universal rule for every waste stream. Cite the CalRecycle textile stewardship page and require bidders to identify the current rule, responsible party, and assumption for each affected material.

Set evaluation and commercial rules

Tell bidders how you will evaluate the response. A useful structure can score service design, compliance approach, data quality, destination transparency, experience with comparable multi-site work, transition plan, and total cost. EPA notes that procurement criteria can include experience, diversion performance, and relevant certifications, while a best and final offer process can refine a scope after qualified proposals are reviewed. Use criteria you can verify, and state whether a requirement is pass or fail, scored, or informational.

Request a price model that exposes assumptions. Ask for recurring service, one-time transition, container or equipment, transportation, processing, disposal, special project, contamination, fuel or regulatory adjustment, and optional education charges where relevant. Require bidders to show what is included, what triggers a change, and how a new site or material stream is added. Ask for a contract term, renewal method, termination rights, insurance and indemnity requirements, audit rights, records retention, confidentiality, and dispute process that fit your legal review.

Give the market enough time to respond. Build in a question period, site walk or virtual briefing, addendum process, proposal validity period, and a clear award schedule. Before release, use the waste and recycling RFP checklist to confirm that scope, records, evaluation, and transition details are present. If you want an independent review of a draft, request an assessment with the portfolio context and decisions you need to make.