Is "house hold" rubbish considered as construction waste?

Jean: While we are not GBCI reviewers to give you the formal position on this, I can give you our interpretation. Our projects recycle all of the “house hold” rubbish as you state above and include it in the waste calculations. It doesn’t amount to enough to make the difference one way or the other on earning the point(s). The reason it is so important to include as a job-site practice, is that it aligns the entire work force to the intent of the credit.

However, the USGBC definition as it relates directly to this credit suggests that perhaps this waste might not be construction in nature:
"Construction and Demolition Waste (C&D) Debris includes waste and recyclables generated from construction, and from the renovation, demolition or deconstruction of pre-existing structures. It does not include land clearing debris…"

I can understand why whether to include non-construction waste might be unclear. Under the Calculations section in the Reference Guide, it states the calculation is to include "the total amount of waste generated on-site".

We feel the “house hold” rubbish should definitely be included in job-site best practices, AND included in the overall calculations. If you include those figures in your submittal, I would just make sure you had achieved enough diverted material without it to earn the credit(s) should an audit challenge this approach. It probably won’t make much of a percentage difference to include it, but it will make a difference in project commitment and awareness.

If I may, I'd like to continue this topic with a related question.

I understand Valerie's comments mainly as referring to "office waste". However, what about waste "from the lads having lunch", and bathroom waste?

I'm referring specifically to ORGANIC waste, such as food leftovers; used food packaging; dirty napkins; restroom waste (I believe this specific one would be considered hazardous waste, am I wrong?); waste generated in the lads' leisure area; and so on.

I read the credit's reference guide language over and over again, and I just can't decide weather to include or exclude these waste types in the calculations.

The problem is that organic waste is extremely difficult to recycle, at least in construction projects in Brazil (which is our case). In other scenarios, it can be sent for composting, but from construction sites, that just doesn't happen here. So we would automatically lose percentage points if we were to include these waste types. Not to mention that organic waste is more difficult to track the exact weight/volume.

I look forward to reading your insights. Best regards.

Same issue here. Just got in a kerfuffle over it when I suggested that plastic water bottles are wasteful.

I sent an email in to GBCI.

Have you had any reply yet regarding the lunchtime waste? We have a similar issue as Paola.

Nina -

I am not sure if Kathryn ever got a response; however, if she has one, I am sure she will chime in. In lieu of a definitive answer however it is a best practice to include this waste as it is generated on-site. When you read the Calculations section of the LEED Reference Guide, it references "waste generated on-site."

I really can't imagine that this waste would be so heavy or voluminous that it could be detrimental to a project's waste diversion rate - unless you were trying to achieve exemplary performance.

OK, what about pallets that come with material loaded on them then are taken back by the distributor after being unloaded? the pallets left with material on them that are then sent back to mfgr? I assume no one is weighing pallets and including them in any C&D waste calculations at all. Most all of the pallets that some get sent back to mfgr. very very few get broken and would be discarded as either trash or recycled as wood might be recycled. Ideas place, especially if anyone has real life project experience with this. THANKS! 

Debra - The new LEEDuser search option is pretty powerful. (You can see a video on it here - https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/leeduser-tour.) Were you able to do a search in this credit for pallets? When I did, I came up with these three forums - https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/returned-wooden-pallets, https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/wood-palettes, and https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/achieving-innovation-design-mrc....

You can also search all of LEEDuser for pallets - https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/search/site/pallet. 

If you don't find what you need, please repost - maybe on one of the other pallet forums.

Thanks Michelle,

Maybe the search function wasn't working correctly the other day. I don't think I saw any specific URLs like those above come up.

I will check those out & greatly appreciate your help.

Regards,

Debra

Michelle,

In your post at:

 https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/returned-wooden-pallets  you say:

"appears that you can count these pallets as diverted since they otherwise would have been landfilled"

- the issue is that the industry NORMALLY takes these pallets back. Therefore I feel they should NOT be included in C&D waste calculations. I suspect 50% of people are including them and 50% of people are not including them. I think the USGBC M&R TAG should make an official statement regarding wood pallets.

* This is where the material product manufacturers & distributors should chime in on this topic. *

Thanks!

Debra

Debra - In that forum (https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/returned-wooden-pallets), the situation for Lisa was that these pallets would normally be landfilled where she was but instead they returned them to the manufacturer. Hence my response said that if they would otherwise be landfilled then they could be counted as diverted. 

If in your situation the pallets are normally returned, then no - you can't count them as diverted because they were never going to be wasted/landfilled. 

It would be great if distributors and manufacturers would chime in on this. But I bet there are a wide variety of situations for the industry (not one size fits all) depending on manufacturer size, quantity of material ordered, project location, etc.