§ 104-a. Purchasing of products for public use. Notwithstanding the
provisions of section one hundred three of this chapter, when purchasing
products the officer, board or agency of any political subdivision or of
any district therein charged with the awarding of public contracts may,
wherever recycled products meet contract specifications and the price of
such products is reasonably competitive, purchase such products. For the
purpose of this section and until July first, nineteen hundred
ninety-six, "recycled product" shall mean any product which has been
manufactured from secondary materials, as defined in subdivision one of
section two hundred sixty-one of the economic development law, and meets
secondary material content requirements adopted by the office of general
services under subdivision one of section one hundred seventy-seven of
the state finance law for products available to the political
subdivision or district under state contract or, if no such contract for
such product is available, any product which meets the secondary
material content requirements adopted by the political subdivision or
district thereof with respect to a specific commodity procurement by
such entity. On and after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-six,
"recycled product" shall mean, for the purposes of this section, any
product which is manufactured from secondary materials, as defined in
subdivision one of section two hundred sixty-one of the economic
development law, and which meets the requirements of subdivision two of
section 27-0717 of the environmental conservation law and regulations
promulgated pursuant thereto. For the purpose of this section,
"reasonably competitive" shall mean that the cost of the recycled
product does not exceed a cost premium of ten percent above the cost of
a comparable product that is not a recycled product or, if at least
fifty percent of the secondary materials utilized in the manufacture of
that product are generated from the waste stream in New York state, the
cost of the recycled product does not exceed a cost premium of fifteen
percent above the cost of a comparable product that is not a recycled
product.

Whenever such officer, board or agency shall purchase or cause the
purchase of printing on recycled paper pursuant to this section, he or
she shall require the printed material to contain the official state
recycling emblem established pursuant to subdivision two of section
27-0717 of the environmental conservation law and regulations
promulgated pursuant thereto if such paper has been approved by the
department of environmental conservation as satisfying the requirements
of such statute and regulations, or, if such paper has not been so
approved, require the printed material to include a printed statement
which indicates the percentages of pre-consumer and post-consumer
recycled material content of such paper.