If existing site (or off-site) concrete is crushed and used for sub-grade base, is that re-used or recycled? IE, is the act of "crushing" the concrete considered part of the "manufacturing" process, or is the fact that it is still concrete in just a different form mean that it is being "repurposed"?
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Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11474 thumbs up
January 11, 2013 - 9:37 am
I think it's possible to make a case for counting crushed concrete as material reuse, but I think it's a stretch.Reading between the lines, the credit is really intended to give credit for using materials in a way that extends their useful life cycle at a similar level of value to a new material. For example, taking wood from beams and remilling it as flooring, or taking a door or a piece of furniture and reusing it in another location. Taking used bricks and using them again as bricks.I don't think that crushing concrete that was being used in a specific application and using it as as aggregate, is really in the same category of repurposing architectural details. You're already getting credit under MRc2 and MRc5, so it's not as if this is going unrewarded.
Heather DeGrella
Sustainable Design Director, Associate PrincipalOpsis Architecture
71 thumbs up
June 10, 2013 - 4:21 pm
Hi Jeremy,
According to the Reference Guide, crushed concrete used as subbase is an example of a "Remanufactured material" and may contribute to Reused Materials. Hope that helps-
RIM Architects
RIM Architects3 thumbs up
July 8, 2013 - 4:49 pm
In my copy of the reference guide (p364), under MRc3 part2 Related Credits: it says: "Remanufactured materials are NOT considered a reuse of the material and do not contribute toward this credit". However this can contribute to MRc2 and MRc4.
I'm not sure about the potential for this to contribute to MRc5, but I feel like that should be a possibility.