Question: There is a disposer standard under LEED for Healthcare, water usage 3-8 gpm in active use. Disposers are not allowed in schools earning this credit, yet I continue to see them specified. Are those projects simply making a case FOR disposers, using the Healthcare precedent, or not earning the credit? V4 does not appear to specify 'no disposers.' Thanks
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Shivani Langer
ArchitectSHW Group
9 thumbs up
March 6, 2014 - 9:53 am
We used this in our school: Salvajor FoodWaste Collector
This is the explanation we submitted and the credit was accepted:
"The Salvajor Collector is not a disposer. It does not grind up food waste. The unit collects food waste in a large perforated basket. It acts as a solids interceptor, preventing fibrous food waste from going down the drain and only allowing soluble liquid waste to pass through. The food waste collected in the basket is then dumped into a trash can when full. It re-circulates the water used for scrapping rather than continuously sending fresh water down the drain as typical pre rinse applications do.
As it pertains to LEED, since it is not a disposer, it should not prevent obtaining the LEED WE Credit 4, as it is not a garbage disposer. As a pre-rinse, it can be adjusted down to 1 gpm which puts it within the guidelines for a minimum of 1.4 gpm on that credit."
more information: http://www.salvajor.com/scrapcollectordemo.aspx
Hope this helps!
Susan Walter
HDRLEEDuser Expert
1299 thumbs up
March 6, 2014 - 10:06 am
I doubt many school projects are trying to use the healthcare standard to justify their disposer use. More likely it is a desire of the school district to keep their disposers and the project teams accept that direction.
The HC standard wouldn't set precedent in Schools. The reasons for allowing disposers in Hospitals are very different and the food initiatives in Hospitals are also different than what you see in Schools. That is why there are two different LEED programs for these building types.
That said, Shivani's scrap collector is a great solution and if combined with a composting program could be a great win-win for schools with garden programs.
Suzanne Painter-Supplee, LEED AP+ID&C
PrincipalSEESolutions LLC
126 thumbs up
March 12, 2014 - 4:42 pm
To Shivani's point, collectors are a good design-stage option, but use both HOT & cold water, which has to have been factored into hot water heater sizing and have a hot water line plumbed to it in a dish room location which would have hot water at the hand sink & dishwasher only. Pre-rinse spray usage goes down, particularly with a trough collector. But collector baskets hold roughly 25# of food waste, so the operator has to lift it out, turn, and empty it which concerns ergonomics & repetitive motion. Food waste with or without disposable plates & trays, can range from 3/4-1.5# per student, post-consumer, so those turns add up. Digesters and dehydrators, combined with an Earth Tub for compost are also good solutions, adding educational benefits too. But they are also design stage options. What if the project was already designed with a disposer, and the kitchen designer wasn't asked to consider LEED in his design, nor included in charrettes, or not told the project was going LEED? (Thank you, Integrative Process!)
LEED V4 notably cleared up (& standardized) the disposer issue in all tracks . But for schools still registering for or pursuing LEED V2009, upgrading to V4 or changing equipment per a costly change order might not be an option to earn the credit. IF the balance of WEc4 requirements are met, it doesn't seem fair when another track of LEED (HC) allows disposers.
Re: Susan's point, healthcare waste, its quantity, types and disposal run times (substantially) differ, but the disposer as a product is the same and there are usually at least two in the kitchen. In-patient per-bed food tray/plate waste, using single use, possibly compostable, mats, dish & cup lids, plus prepackaged single service items/beverages, possibly caregiver/spouse in-room meals, contribute to uneaten food volume/weight, so pulpers are best. Usually in hospitals, only sometimes in schools, pulpers are often considered too rich for the budget,too high maintenance, & VE'd out. So why shouldn't there be an argument for schools with disposers if they otherwise meet the credit, possibly w/exemplary, if the disposer meets/exceeds published V4 standards or Healthcare V2009?
Susan Walter
HDRLEEDuser Expert
1299 thumbs up
March 14, 2014 - 1:36 pm
You can't use a HC standard in a School standard because the School program has a standard already. Thems the rulz. You can look to EB+OM.
Another thing to keep in mind is total water use in the facility. Water use in healthcare is huge. Building process water use accounts for 75% of all water used in the facility. The other 25% is domestic water use and the kitchen water use is counted as domestic water in the reports I have read (although LEED does not count it as domestic). This is why the focus in HC, outside of the pre-req, is on cooling towers and building equipment for credits and the kitchen water use is folded into existing credits.
The healthcare community is waking up and dealing with food and food waste issues. There is a significant sustainable food movement underway in the sustainable HC operations community. Water use reduction is not a huge part of that discussion as the healthcare community tends to focus on health and safety first. If water cost more, it would get more attention. (It is why the pulpers get VE'd out; the ROI is long.)
Renee Shirey
Stantec421 thumbs up
June 24, 2014 - 8:22 pm
Shivani, we used a Salvajor scrap collector (S914, 2 gallons fresh water/minute) and wondered if it was the same model. If so, where did you get the information that it can be "adjusted down to 1 gpm"? I would love to be able to include that info in our submittal. Thanks!