The following definitions shall apply to the terms used in this article:
(a) “Awarding Authority” means any Board or Commission of the City of Los Angeles, or any authorized employee or officer of the City of Los Angeles, including the Purchasing Agent of the City of Los Angeles, who makes or enters into any contract or agreement for the provision of any goods or services of any kind or nature whatsoever for or on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, and shall include those departments of the City that exercise independent control over the expenditure of their funds and that adopt policies consistent with the provisions of this Article.
(b) “Bid documents” means Request for Proposals (RFPs), Invitations for Bids (IFBs), Request for Qualifications (RFQs), advertisements for bids, and all responses to such documents.
(c) “Bio-based product” refers to a commercial or industrial product (other than food or feed) that is composed, in whole or in significant part, of biological products, including renewable domestic agricultural materials (including plant, animal and marine materials) or forestry materials.
(d) “Biodegradable” means materials that can decompose, usually by bacteria or sunlight, into basic components. Most organic materials (paper, grass clippings, food scraps), under the right conditions, are biodegradable.
(e) “Carcinogen” is a substance or agent that can cause cancer.
(f) “Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)” means a fluorocarbon with chlorine; formerly used as a refrigerant and as a propellant in aerosol cans; the chlorine in CFCs causes depletion of atmospheric ozone.
(g) “City” means the City of Los Angeles, and all awarding authorities thereof, including those departments of the City that exercise independent control over the expenditure of their funds and that adopt policies consistent with the provisions of this Article.
(h) “Co-compost product” means an end product which meets all of the following requirements:
1. It is derived from a blending of materials, of which at least 80% is household refuse and the remainder is sewage sludge or other comparable substitutes, including, but not limited to nontoxic dairy wastes, livestock and horse manure, or fish wastes.
2. It is usable.
3. It is source-separated from the municipal solid waste stream.
(i) “Compost” refers to a process whereby organic wastes, including food wastes, paper, and yard wastes, decompose naturally, resulting in a product rich in minerals and ideal for gardening and farming as soil conditioners, mulch, resurfacing material, or landfill cover, and to such resulting product.
(j) “Compost product” means an end product which meets all of the following requirements:
1. It is derived from the biological decomposition of a selected blend of organic wastes, including, but not limited to, wood by- products, plant waste, yard refuse, food, organic textiles and carpets, paper products, printing and writing paper, manure, biosolids, digestate, or sewage sludge.
2. It is usable.
3. It is source-separated from the municipal solid waste stream.
4. It is produced at a State or locally approved compostable material handling operation or facility permitted or authorized under 14 California Code of Regulations (CCR) Chapter 3.1 of Division 7, or produced at a large volume in-vessel digestion facility that composts on-site as defined and permitted under 14 CCR Chapter 3.2 of Division 7. Compost shall meet the State’s regulatory requirements for composting operations.
(k) “Compostable” refers to products that are comprised of cellulose-containing materials that can be broken down into compost when subjected to biological degradation. Examples include compostable tableware and flatware, brush, leaves, tree trimmings.
(l) “Contract” means any agreement, franchise, lease, or concession, including agreements for any occasional professional or technical personal services, for the performance of any work or service, the provision of any materials or supplies, or the rendition of any service to the City of Los Angeles or to the public, which is let, awarded or entered into with, or on behalf of, the City of Los Angeles or any awarding authority thereof, and in accordance with all applicable legal requirements.
(m) “Direct Service Provider” means a person, company, agency, district, or other entity that provides a service or services to the City pursuant to a contract or other written agreement.
(n) “Durable” means goods that can be used more than once and withstand long use, wear, and decay.
(o) “Energy efficient” with regard to a product means a product in the upper 25 percent of efficiency for all similar products or products labeled “Energy Star” or designated as such by the United States Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP).
(p) “Environmental cost of entire product or service life cycle” means both the direct and indirect cost of the environmental impacts caused by the product in its entire life cycle, including cost of effluent/waste treatment, cost of effluent/waste control, cost of waste disposal, cost of implementation of environmental management systems, costs of eco-taxes, costs of rehabilitation (in case of environmental accidents), cost savings of renewable energy utilization, and cost savings of recycling and re-use strategies.
(q) “Environmentally Preferable Products” means products that have a lesser adverse impact on human health and the environment when compared with competing products serving the same purpose. This comparison may consider all phases of the product’s life cycle, including raw materials acquisition, toxicity levels, production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, operation, maintenance and disposal, including potential for reuse or ability to be recycled. These products minimize the consumption of resources, energy and water; prevent the creation of solid waste, air pollution or water pollution; minimize the use of materials or processes which compromise the environment; and/or promote the use of non-toxic substances and avoid toxic materials or processes.
(r) “Fly ash” means the component of coal that results from the combustion of coal, and is the finely divided mineral residue which is typically collected from boiler stack gases by electrostatic precipitator or mechanical collection devices.
(s) “Greenhouse gases” refers to naturally occurring and human-made compounds which absorb some of the thermal radiation from the sun from being emitted back into the atmosphere, which heats the atmosphere and further warms the Earth’s surface, which is known as the greenhouse effect. These gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, partially halogenated fluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, and perfluorinated carbons. The gases contribute indirectly to the greenhouse effect because they influence the rate at which ozone and other greenhouse gases are created and destroyed in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gas emissions result from residential and commercial energy use, industrial processes, electricity generation, agriculture and forestry.
(t) “Heavy metal” refers to metallic elements with high atomic weights, e.g. mercury, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, and lead, which can negatively affect people’s health at low concentrations and tend to accumulate in the food chain.
(u) “Less hazardous” means an environmentally-friendlier safer, alternative to hazardous solvents or materials based on the following indicators: global warming potential, ozone-depletion potential, volatile organic content, flammability/ reactivity and toxicity/carcinogenity.
(v) “Life Cycle Assessment” is an objective process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product process or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and materials used and wastes released into the environment, to assess the impact of those energy and materials uses and releases on the environment, and to evaluate and implement opportunities to affect environmental improvements.
(w) “Life cycle cost” means the total cost of ownership of a product, including initial capital, installation, energy, maintenance, operating, insurance, disposal, replacement, and potential liability costs.
(x) “Low toxicity” refers to a decrease in the amount of toxic chemicals used in making a product. Example: water-based paint instead of lead paint, alcohol based thermometer instead of mercury-based thermometer.
(y) “Low volatile organic compound (VOC) content” refers to products with a low amount of organic compounds. Example: paint, aerosol sprays, solvents.
(z) “Lubricating oil” means engine lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids and gear oils, excluding marine and aviation oils.
(aa) “Mill broke” means any paper waste generated in a paper mill prior to completion of the paper making process. It is usually returned directly to the pulping process. Mill broke is excluded from the definition of “Recycled material”.
(bb) “Paper Products” include, but are not limited to, paper janitorial supplies, cartons, wrapping, packaging, file folders, hanging files, corrugated boxes, tissue, and toweling; or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(51).
(cc) “Performance standards” means a statement of the desired operation or function of a material, supply, or equipment.
(dd) “Persistent, bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemical” refers to a toxic chemical that is stable and builds up in the environment for a long period of time, particularly in food chains, is not readily destroyed, and builds up or accumulates in body tissue. Relatively small releases of PBT chemicals can pose human and environmental health threats. PBTs include but are not limited to Dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, lead compounds, mercury compounds, polycyclic aromatic compounds, Aldrin, Benzo (g, h, i) perylene, Chlordane, Heptachlor, Hexachlorobenzene, Isodrin, Lead, Mercury, Methoxychlor, Octachlorostyrene, Pendimethalin, Pentachlorobenzene, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Tetrabromobisphenol A, Toxaphene, and Trifluran.
(ee) “Post-consumer material” means any household or commercial product which has served its original, intended use, and has been separated or diverted from the solid waste stream for the purposes of collection, recycling and disposition. Post- consumer material is part of the broader category, “Recycled material”.
(ff) “Practicable” means sufficient in performance and available within a reasonable period of time at a reasonable cost.
(gg) “Printing and Writing Paper” include, but are not limited to, copy paper, xerographic paper, watermark paper, cotton fiber paper, offset paper, paper forms, computer printout paper, white wove envelopes, manila envelopes, book paper, note pads, writing tablets, newsprint, and other uncoated writing papers, posters, index cards, calendars, brochures, reports, magazines, and publications; or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(54).
(hh) “Product” means goods, supplies or equipment.
(ii) “Rapidly renewable materials” means materials made from plants that are typically harvested within a ten-year cycle.
(jj) “Recyclable” refers to material that still has useful physical or chemical properties after serving its original purpose and can, therefore, be reused, reconditioned or remanufactured into additional products.
(kk) “Recycled content” means that portion of a material by mass that originates in either pre- or post-consumer waste streams. It includes products and packages that contain reused, reconditioned or remanufactured materials as well as recycled raw material.
(ll) “Recycled material” means a material that can be utilized in place of a raw or virgin material in manufacturing a product of materials derived from post-consumer recycled content, secondary waste, or reusable products, all of which can be used in the manufacture of new products. New products that contain recycled material are considered “recycled- content products”.
(mm) “Recycled paper” means Paper Products and recycled-content Printing and Writing Paper containing Post-consumer material and Secondary waste materials with not less than 50 percent of their total weight consisting of at least 30 percent, by fiber weight, post-consumer fiber, consistent with the requirements of Sections 22150 to 22154 and Sections 12200 and 12209 of the California Public Contract Code.
(nn) “Refurbished” refers to the process of restoring a product by cleaning, repairing, recovering, and reusing the item for its original intended use.
(oo) “Re-refined oil” means oil from which the physical and chemical contaminants acquired through previous use have been removed through a refining process.
(pp) “Resource-efficient” means a product that conserves water or energy.
(qq) “Retreaded tire” means any tire that utilizes an existing casing for the purpose of vulcanizing new tread to such casing which meets all performance and quality standards specified in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards determined by the United States Department of Transportation.
(rr) “Reusable” means able to use repeatedly in the same form (e.g.: glass bottles, cloth diapers).
(ss) “SB 1383 Eligible Mulch” means mulch eligible to meet the Annual Recovered Organic Waste Product Procurement Target, pursuant to 14 CCR Chapter 12 of Division 7. The SB 1383 Eligible Mulch shall meet the following conditions for the duration of the applicable procurement compliance year, as specified by 14 CCR Section 18993.1(f)(4):
1. Be produced at one of the following facilities:
i. A compostable material handling operation or facility as defined in 14 CCR Section 17852(a)(12) that is permitted or authorized under 14 CCR Division 7, excluding a chipping and grinding operation or facility as defined in 14 CCR Section 17852(a)(10);
ii. A transfer/processing facility or transfer/processing operation as defined in 14 CCR Section 17402, Subsections (a)(30) and (31), respectively, that is permitted or authorized under 14 CCR Division 7; or
iii. A Solid Waste landfill as defined in Public Resources Code Section 40195.1 that is permitted under 27 CCR Division 2.
2. Meet or exceed the physical contamination, maximum metal concentration, and pathogen density standards for land application specified in 14 CCR Section 17852(a)(24.5), Subsections (A)(1) through (3).
(tt) “Secondary waste” means fragments of products or finished products of a manufacturing process, which has converted a virgin resource into a commodity of real economic value, and includes post-consumer content, but does not include fibrous waste generated during the manufacturing process such as fibers recovered form wastewater or trimmings of paper machine rolls (mill broke), wood slabs, chips, sawdust or other wood residue from a manufacturing process. Secondary waste is part of the broader category, “Recycled material”.
(uu) “Specification” means a clear and accurate description of the technical requirements for products and services, which specifies the minimum requirements for quality and construction of such products or services.
(vv) “Ultimate disposal” refers to the final process in the management of wastes.
(ww) “Uncertified hardwoods” means any hardwoods from deciduous trees that are not certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
(xx) “Upgradeable” with regard to this Article means the ability to improve or replace products for increased usefulness.
(yy) “Virgin material” means a mined or harvested raw material to be used in manufacturing.
(zz) “Water-efficient” refers to types of products whose production has become increasingly water use efficient as demonstrated by data collected over a period of time, including those meeting EPA’s “WaterSense” standards.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 180,751, Eff. 8-4-09, Oper. 11-4-09.
Amended by: Ord. No. 187,711, Eff. 1-18-23.