Forum discussion
NC-2009 MRc4: Recycled Content
I have worked on LEED v2.1 projects before where recycled content of glass was rejected due to the cullet present in recycled glass not being allowed to be counted as "pre-consumer" recycled.
Is this still true in LEED 2009? Or are they now accepting glass cullet as recycled material?
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The recycled content percentage on the product data sheet is given as a range. What should I do?
Is the default average recycled content value of 25% for steel still allowed?
Can site materials, such as soil, be included in the MR credit calculations?
Are there recycled content claims that I should be wary of?
Hernando Miranda
OwnerSoltierra LLC
344 thumbs up
January 25, 2013 - 12:37 pm
Cullet does not automatically means the cullet was generated in the same manufacturing process. Cullet is the word use for ground up recycled glass that is ready for remelting for use in a new manufacturing process.
Wikipedia mentions cullet as part of the topic for Glass Recycled:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling
The v2.1 reviewers who denied cullet as recycled content did not understand what glass cullet is. They apparently thought it was material left over and reused in the same process.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11474 thumbs up
January 25, 2013 - 1:06 pm
Check that it's not cullet being fed from the end of a production line (as waste in the production process) back into the beginning of the same line. Note in your documentation the source. If you can do that, I would be surprised to see it rejected, and would challenge the review comment.
Mariah Grife
Walsh Construction11 thumbs up
January 30, 2013 - 4:23 pm
Thanks you guys for the help! One more thing - would this be listed as "Post-Consumer" or "Pre-Consumer?"
RETIRED
LEEDuser Expert
623 thumbs up
January 30, 2013 - 7:25 pm
It depends on the source of your recycled glass. Does it come from bottles collected in a recycling program? Then it would be post-consumer. Or is it glass collected from another manufacturing process used by your manufacturer in their process? Then it would be pre-consumer (aka post-industrial).
Julie Unitas Giba
Concierge ManagerVitro Architectural Glass
September 5, 2019 - 9:15 am
Cullet is a valuable feedstock that is not intended for discard or disposal. The reutilization of cullet is necessary to optimize the manufacturing processes to reduce waste, energy consumption, and raw material acquisition.
Therefore, Vitro does not report post or pre-consumer recycled content in our architectural glass.