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EBOM-v4 MRp1:Ongoing purchasing and waste policy

European standards for bio-based materials

I'm working on a building's purchasing and waste policy and I'm using LEED's template. In section iv (procedures and strategies for implementation) it states that bio-based products shall meet the Sustainable Agriculture Network’s Sustainable Agriculture Standard. I have two questions here: 1. Just to be sure, food and beverages are considered into this category, right? 2. Is the EU organic products label (a European ecolabel for cultivated products) considered a valid standard here? Thank you very much.

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Profile picture for user tlittle
Trista Brown
Project Director
WSP USA
LEEDuser Basic Member
381 thumbs up

Fri, 02/24/2017 - 17:59

My understanding is that the policy must address food only if your project is a school or hospitality building (check out MRc1 Purchasing - ongoing on LEEDuser for details about food purchases and bio-based products as well). That said, if a food product (e.g. coffee) is one of your top 5 purchases, you'd need to include sustainability criteria for it in your policy. LEED v4 accepts a few additional labels that weren't accepted under v2009, including Canada Organic and European Community Organic Production. Is that the EU label you're referring to?

Sat, 02/25/2017 - 10:46

Trista, thank you very much for your answer, it's really helpful. Yes, the EU label I'm talking about is the EC Organic Production, the one that looks like a leaf made of stars. So I understand that if a food product shows that label, it's considered sustainable under LEED v4, right? Thanks again
Profile picture for user tlittle
Trista Brown
Project Director
WSP USA
LEEDuser Basic Member
381 thumbs up

Sat, 02/25/2017 - 21:29

That's correct! And if you check out the MRc1 purchasing calculator (here: http://www.usgbc.org/resources/purchasing-calculator) you can confirm which labels are accepted... and that particular label is included in the drop-down list of Sustainable Agriculture label options so you know it's good!

Sun, 02/26/2017 - 09:34

That's very helpful. Thanks again, Trista!

Tue, 02/28/2017 - 11:33

Now working on a different category within this policy... I've read that LEED accepts some European equivalents to EnergyStar label for electronics (TCO and Blue Angel). In Europe we also have the EU Energy Label that rates appliances from D (worst efficiency) to A+++ (best efficiency). Does LEED accept an EU Energy Label A or better (A, A+, A++ and A+++) as a valid standard for sustainability?
Profile picture for user michael.smithing
Michael Smithing
Director - Green Building Advisory
Colliers International Ltd.
LEEDuser Basic Member
201 thumbs up

Tue, 02/28/2017 - 17:02

Yes and no. On CI projects I've gotten back comments which indicated that the review teams are in the habit of accepting certain energy labels. That said, the rating system does not include these, so to be on the safe side you should do the Energy Star compliance calculations.

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