The product would have to be made entirely (100%) out of post-consumer recycled content for its entire value to count toward the 25% threshold for earning the point. The credit language is confusing on this point. Anything less that 100% post-consumer recycled content, including a combination of post-consumer and pre-consumer content (which is discounted by half), provides a “recycled content value” for the product. That pro-rated recycled content value is valued at 100% in the calculation (as opposed to being further discounted, like the extended producer responsibility products). In this sense, the recycled content value calculation is unchanged from how it worked in LEED v3/2009.
The credit language says “Products meeting recycled content criteria are valued at 100% of their cost for the purposes of credit achievement calculation.” How much recycled content has to be in a product for 100% of its cost to count toward credit achievement?
