Forum discussion
CS-2009 MRc4: Recycled Content
We received a declaration from a material producer stating that the product "contains ca. 80% recycled content" and "we assume that 50% comes from post-consumer". Is it acceptable by GBCI if the declaration uses words like "we assume" and "around 80%".
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The recycled content percentage on the product data sheet is given as a range. What should I do?
Is the default average recycled content value of 25% for steel still allowed?
Can site materials, such as soil, be included in the MR credit calculations?
Are there recycled content claims that I should be wary of?
Jon Clifford
LEED-AP BD+CGREENSQUARE
LEEDuser Expert
327 thumbs up
June 30, 2016 - 10:30 pm
If I received a statement like that from a manufacturer, and if I could not obtain clearer data, I would “assume” the worst (that there was NO post-consumer content). I would enter “80% pre-consumer” into the Materials Calculator.
However, first, I would contact the manufacturer for more information and ask them why they are not sure where their raw materials come from. Is there 80% recycled content estimate reliable, or is it just a guess too.
Finally, I would try to determine whether the person calculating the percentages understands the recycled content definitions and calculations. For example, on an early LEED project, I kept receiving data from one manufacturer reporting high recycled percentages with vague pre-/post- numbers. When I delved into it, it appeared that the manufacturer had misinterpreted the “recycled content” definitions, greatly exaggerating their claim. It was safer for me to ignore their data altogether and report 0% recycled content.