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EBOM-2009 MRc1: Sustainable Purchasing—Ongoing Consumables

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FSC vs SFI

December 5, 2012

Kay Sieck

LEED-AP O&M Spokane Convention Center & INB Performing Arts Center
Spokane Public Facilities District

LEEDuser Basic Member

3 thumbs up

December 5, 2012

Why does LEED not recognize SFI products? We purchase products with that label such as our hanging folders and file folders. Does it count as and FSC product? Thanks for the help

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Tristan Roberts

Representative
Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

11477 thumbs up

December 6, 2012 - 9:45 am

Kay, LEED has a long history of accepting FSC only. SFI and the forest products industry have fought that stance intensely, and continue to do so, but USGBC's membership has voted to maintain an FSC-only policy, based on studies showing that it is the stronger standard on an environmental and social basis. A lot has been written on on this topic—here's one article from Environmental Building News to get you started.

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FAQs about MRc1:

We purchased hundreds of ongoing consumables items during our performance period. Do we have to enter each discrete purchase into the LEED Online credit form?

Our organization has a centralized purchasing program that buys products for several buildings, including the one pursuing LEED-EBOM certification. It’s difficult to track which ongoing consumable goods purchases are used in the EBOM building versus the

Purchasing for our organization takes place in the EBOM project building, but not all ongoing consumable goods that are purchased end up being used there. Should we include all of the purchases in MRc1?

We have multiple tenants in our building, some of which are nonresponsive to requests for purchasing records. Can we exclude their purchases?

Does a signed letter from a product manufacturer that states the sustainability criteria met by a particular product count as acceptable LEED documentation?

Do manufacturer claims about the average recycled content, etc. in all its products count as acceptable LEED documentation? For example, a toner cartridge website says that the average post-consumer recycled content is 90% across all its toner products.

Lots of products we purchase seem like they could be tracked in two different purchasing credits. For example, toilet tissue seem like an ongoing consumable since it’s replaced frequently at a low cost per unit (MRc1), but it’s also used for our green

The credit language says we need to track paper (printing or copy paper, notebooks, notepads, envelopes), toner cartridges, binders, batteries and desk accessories. Is that everything we have to track for this credit?

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