Extraction point for Recycled Content

Rick—Reference Guide Correction #100000379, issued in 2010, states, “Recycled materials that satisfy the requirements of MR Credit 4 may also contribute to MR Credit 5. The extraction point for recycled materials is the location of the raw material prior to the manufacturing of the final building product. As such, the point of extraction could include a recycling facility, scrap yard, depository, stockpile, or any other location where the material was collected and packaged for market purchase before manufacturing. It is not necessary to track the origin of the raw material before it arrived at the point of extraction.”

Therefore, the extraction points are the scrap yards and other facilities from which the steel mill obtained the recycled steel. The steel mill is not the extraction point unless it sits in the middle of its own scrap yard (as some do).

You do NOT need to trace recycled content all the way back to the original consumer (for example, the homeowner that disposed of an old washing machine).

Rick - Specifically for steel, if you claim the recycled content % is also regional, the LEED Reviewers have been asking for documentation that the recycled content portion of the steel has been acquired within 500 miles of the project site. In my experience, a quick email or call to the designated "sustainability" or "LEED" contact at the various steel companies will get you what you need. These contacts are usually listed on the steel producers' websites. Just ask them for a project-specific regional content letter -- they almost all have them at this point. Then multiply the % regional x the % scrap to get your regional content for MRc5. This has been accepted for me every time. At a minimum, you will need to provide the project name, location, and date of completion (if applicable) to get the letter. You may also need the mill numbers, but not typically.

As an example, I have received documentation from various major steel manufacturers that several of their mills are immediately adjacent to scrap yards from which each of those mills obtains all of its recycled steel. In these cases, I count the combined pre- and post-consumer recycled percentage toward MRc5.

Other mills have reported that they purchase recycled steel from various sources, but that an annual average of X% comes from scrap yards and recycling facilities that are within 500 miles of my project. X% of this steel’s recycled content percentage counts toward MRc5.

Finally, some steel makers tell me that they purchase from too many different recyclers to track how much is regional. Since they can’t pin down a percentage, I can’t count any of this toward MRc5.

Just remember that, if the mill or the steel fabricator is more than 500 miles away, the steel is not regional regardless of where it buys its scrap.

can someone please comment on aggregation of the miles?? I have a review team telling that I need to add up the miles. i.e. scrap that is estimated to be collected from various scrap yards within 300 miles of the manufacturing that is then 210 miles from the project would fail MRc5 according to the review team. The product would be extracted and manufactured within 510 miles by this method. Is this correct?

Hi Lou -
If you are using Option 2, then you would need to add up the actual miles traveled, from the extraction point, to the manufacturing location, to the project site.
For Option 1, as long as both the extraction point and the manufacturing location are within 500 miles of the project site, it doesn't matter how far they are from each other. Just make sure to get the supporting documentation from the manufacturer.

option 1; let's say the manufacturing location is about 110 miles from the project site and the manufacturer supporting documents claim all scrap collected within 500 of the manufacturing plant?

Everything is relative to the PROJECT location. So the manufacturing location AND the local material source location(s) must be within 500 miles of the PROJECT site. 100% of raw material does not have to be local, but whatever % is claimed to be local must be sourced from within 500 miles of the PROJECT site.

Jon...can you please provide further clarification. Is the "Extraction Distance (mi)," located in column Q of the BDC Material & Resource Calculator the distance between the steel mill and the LEED project site, or is the "Extraction Distance (mi)" the distance between the "recycling facility, scrap yard, depository, stockpile, or any other location where the material was collected and packaged for market purchase before manufacturing," as stated in your above post from (March 16, 2017 - 12:21 am)? I understand that the mill may acquire its recycled content from an adjacent recycling facility, thus making the mill/recycling facility the same extraction point, but what if the mill is acquiring recycled material from several sources; what is the single "Extraction Distance (mi)" under this scenario? 

Here's the post:

https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/extraction-point-recycled-content

Debra