"New Wood"

The GC is basically right. Many composite lumber products contain recycled content, which is not considered "new" wood. As discussed above, new wood is not covered by this credit. However, don't let the GC over-simplify. Many substrates have a certain percentaged recycled content, but also some new content. Check the data sheets for every product.

I recently noticed in the Materials Overview section of the ID&C reference guide (note it’s not in the NCv2009 reference guide), there is a table of ‘units of measurement for materials and resources credits’ (p.233). In this table under MRc7 Certified Wood, it states “Cost New ($) – identify all wood-based materials, then exclude salvaged and refurbished material and postconsumer recycled wood fiber or portion of any products”

This call out of the postconsumer recycled wood fiber is not anywhere but in this MR Overview table – all other instances in the reference guide only say to not include wood with ‘recycled content’. However, with this explicit call out in the table, it appears as though only postconsumer recycled content is not to be included in the MRc7 wood calculations, and any wood with pre-consumer recycled content is to be included.

Historically, Only Pre-Consumer (Post-Industrial) Recycled content was excluded from the FSC credit. LEED V2.1 was very explicite about only excluding salvadged, refurbished and pre-consumer recycled content.

However, NC 2.2 shifted to excluding 'recycled content' from MR7 (CI may have as well) and both the V2009 BD+C and IDC V2009 reference guides make this distinction in the MR7 Credit language. The V2009 IDC and BD+C glossaries both identify 'Recycled Content' as either post-consumer or pre-consumer per ISO 14021.

It would appear that USGBC has conflict in their documentation. I would recommend confirming with USGBC / GBCI.
dp

We had this issue on more than one project. I have contacted USGBC and have had this issue clarified.
Here is my original email, and USGBC's Response.

kevin@montbleau.com

I am in need of some clarification on an item regarding MRc7 Certified Wood
The area that I am looking to get cleared up is in regards to MDF and Particleboard. All MDF and Particleboard is made from ‘wood chips’ that are leftover from milling dimensional lumber i.e. 2x4’s moldings etc. These ‘wood chips’ are collected and pressed into MDF and Particle board. These boards are marketed and sold as “FSC Mixed Credit”. They also contain 100% post industrial content claim –because they are the chips ‘leftover’ from making the dimensional lumber products. We were told recently that the MDF and Particleboard cannot count towards the MRc7 Certified Wood credit because it is made up of recycled content.
I have looked over the memorandum dated April 7, 2008 titled “Revised Requirements for Documenting the Use of FSC Certified Wood in LEED”as well as reviewed the CIR’s for this credit, but have not found a satisfactory line drawn regarding this.
The area of confusion seems to stem from the third paragraph in the memorandum stating that “wood products identified as “FSC Recycled” or “FSC Recycled Credit” do not count toward certified wood credits. They qualify instead as recycled content products”
Can USGBC please give a clear definition on products such as MDF and Particleboard that are sold with a recycled content claim and a FSC Pure, FSC Mixed Credit, or FSC % Mixed Credit claim type.
It is my understanding that even thought these types of products are made up of post industrial recycled content, the fact that they are sold as “FSC Mixed Credit” would allow these products to be applied towards either the MRc4.1 /4.2. or the MRc7 credit. This would be up to the discretion of the LEED AP for the project. However if any such materials are included in one credit, all such materials must be included in the calculation, and applied to the same credit (i.e. you can’t apply some MDF to MRc4, and some to MRc7)
I am happy to submit this as a CIR, however I am not on any project currently. Can I still pay the $220 and have this CIR submitted?

Kevin Mortensen
Chief Sustainability Officer
619-847-0419
kevin@montbleau.com
www.montbleau.com

USGBC's RESPONSE
Dear Kevin,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding LEED 2009 Green Building & Construction: MRc7. We apologize for the delay as we are experiencing high technical email volumes.

As stated on page 397 of the LEED 2009 Green Building Design & Construction Reference Guide:

"Wood products that are not FSC certified and those that are identified on invoices as FSC Pure and FSC Mixed Credit should be valued at 100% of the product cost. Wood products identified as FSC Mixed (NN%) should be valued at the indicated percentage of their cost.
Wood products identified as FSC Recycled or FSC Recycled Credit do not count toward MR Credit 7, Certified Wood. They qualify instead as recycled-content products that may contribute to MR Credit 4, Recycled Content."

Due to the FSC's "credit" system, some FSC Mixed Credit products may contain some portion of 'recycled' content. However, it is not always feasible to determine the exact percentage of recycled content in all such products. Therefore, the principle to be used is simply that such products cannot count towards both credits, MRc4 & MRc7. If MDF and particleboard products are made from recycled wood scraps but are stated as being FSC Mixed (not FSC Recycled) the products can count toward MRc7 or MRc4, but cannot count toward both. During the design phase, the architect should incorporate certified wood products into the project plans and specifications. During construction, the contractor should review the project cost to verify that 50% of wood costs are FSC-certified. At this time it could be determined what credit the MDF and particleboard would best fit and meet the LEED Materials & Resources credit goals for the project.

You can access more information on FSC designations and Chain of Custody certification requirements at their webpage: www.fscus.org.

We trust this will help you with your process and thank you for your interest in LEED Rating Systems.

If you have any other questions about LEED, please feel free to contact us via the USGBC contact page: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2043.

Sincerely,

USGBC Technical Customer Service
U.S. Green Building Council
2101 L St. NW • Suite 500
Washington DC 20037
800.795.1747 • fax 202.828.5110
WWW.USGBC.ORG

By The Way. I am the FSC Coordinator for a large millwork and design firm in San Diego, CA. If anyone ever has any questions regarding MRc7 and /or FSC items, please don't hesitate to contact me and I will help you out.

Hi Kevin - Thanks for the offer to answer questions!....And of course I have a question for you that as part of the millwork industry, you might be able to answer. Here's the context for my question:

It is my understanding that originally MDO / Particleboard was developed to use available mill off-fall and scrape, but that the popularity of the products exceeded the availability of recycled content and 'new' timber started being used to meet demand.

Here in Minnesota, 'quaking aspen' are grow to to support particleboard / MDO / pulp production. The wood industry appears to be very integrated and purposeful in growing 'Roundwood' (the industry term for this type of timber) for particleboards / MDO and paper. This begs the question of whether the material is truly 'recycled' since the trees (previously consider weed trees) are of limited value in 'stick' form (other than shipping pallets and other low-value, small products) and are valued most as feedstock for 'pulped' fiber.

Personally I think the content of (at least some) Minnesota made particleboards / MDO wood fiber might actually fit better in the rapidly renewable category credit than in the recycled category - aspen grows quickly and I believe it meets the Rapidly Renewable definition of a 10 year life cycle.

Here's are my question(s): Would you know what the industry has indentified as an average ratio of recycled content and new wood for MDO / particle boards (i.e. the steel industry has an industry average calculated for recycled content in structural steel)? AND do you know how the Particleboard / MDO industry defines their 'Recycled' content?

Best,
Doug

Thank you for sharing Kevin! This is helpful.

Doug - I do not believe that the composite panel industry has a "standard" recycled content amount. As you point out some manufacturers will use new wood to produce MDF and Particleboard, if / when the fall off material is not available. There is an organization entitled "The Composite Panel Association" http://www.pbmdf.com/ that you could try contacting regarding that question. When we are trying to find out the recycled content of a product, we have found that using the material cut sheets are the most accurate way to do this. Here are 2 examples of composite panels fabricated by Sierra Pine http://www.sierrapine.com/Media/ArreisSpecJuly10FINAL2.pdf
http://www.sierrapine.com/Media/Encore3MillSpec042508FINAL.pdf
You'll see that with this company you have an ordering option (If your purchasing an entire run) of what type of materials you want in your particleboard. It can have recycled content, as well as FSC certified materials. It's up to the purchaser what they want.

Regarding 'how' they define their recycled content. Most reputable companies will have their recycled content 'certified'. Again I reference sierra Pine, you can submit a request from them and they will send you a copy of their SCS- Certificate that states the minimum recycled content that each panel has. In Sierra Pines case, ALL panels have a minimum of 88% Pre Consumer recycled content (so states their certificate). I hope this helps.

Thanks Kevin - Sierra Pine has a strong reputation in this area and getting an SCS certification for recycled content creates clarity and confidence in their published numbers.

I'm intrigued by the state of the broader composite wood industry; what the statistics are and what their approach to defining recycled content is...I pointed to the steel industry in my post above because they provide national averages on steel content (for different product types) and these are very helpful early in the design process when we are trying to do LEED Forecasting with really limited detail about the final project specs and suppliers.

We run into lots of indvidual manfacturers (in a range of industries) that don't understand what actually qualifies as pre-consumer recycled content (as you know, picking up spillage or virgin materials off the factory floor doesn't actually qualify as recycled). Those folks sometimes end up publishing recycled content numbers that don't actually qualify for earning the MR 4 credit in the end. Having industry averages can be beneficial in qualifying manufacture claims.

Best Regards,
Doug