Can I recycle stones from excavation?

Blanca - My apologies for not replying sooner. Excavated soil and land-clearing debris do not contribute to this credit. So, the stones that you extract are not supposed to go to the landfill. They just should not be included in either diverted or landfilled totals for this credit. So, they do not hurt or help you in regards to MRc2. While diverting them to be crushed is a best management practice, because they are land-clearing debris they would not count for diversion under this credit; however, if the crushed stone was used on-site to replace a virgin material, they might count for MRc4: Recycled Materials (because they were reprocessed) and MRc5: Regional Materials - but it depends on what CSI MasterFormat 2004 Division they’d be specified under.

I found this CIR and had intended on referencing it for our reuse of site excavated stones:

• per the USGBC Interpretation Request 10062 below:   “Land clearing debris such as trees branches and soil do not contribute toward diverted waste. Excavated/extracted raw materials like clay, limestone and rock as well as previously manufactured materials such as concrete, asphalt, and stone contribute to diverted material when processed and re-used on or off-site and its’ new purpose is of beneficial use or has open market value.            Materials found on site that are not part of a previous construction (raw materials like clay, limestone, and rock) that are not reused or re-processed for beneficial or an open market product are considered land clearing debris and are excluded from credit calculation."

also see https://www.usgbc.org/content/li-5222  

This is great Debra.  Thank you for linking it.  There is an updated link due to a ruling that was amended, which invalidates LEED Interpretation #5222.  LEED Interpretation #10062 has the correct and valid ruling as you have noted above.  (https://www.usgbc.org/content/li-10062).  Blanca, I am curious how this credit turned out for you, and if you did include the limestone, what documentation you provided to validate the diversion.