We have a project that is using a Certified Commingled Recycling Facility for their single-stream recycling and they are giving us visual inspections, with a breakdown of each waste stream. They have told us multiple times that this is okay since they are an RCI facility, this just doesn't sound right to us, can anyone else verify that this is right? I'm assuming that we still need to report this as our Single-stream, and we cannot break these out into their own waste streams, right? Or can we actually use their numbers to support separate waste streams since they are certified like they are claiming?
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Tiffany Beffel
Managing PartnerInnovative Workshop Consulting
LEEDuser Expert
22 thumbs up
October 21, 2019 - 6:20 am
Hi Kimberlee! This is a hot topic for sure and I want to direct you to MRc2, where there was some key discussion with regard to visual inspections: https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/alternative-calculation-mrc2. You are correct, commingled is considered single-stream, whether it is project specific or the facility average. And, it still remains true that visual inspection is not an acceptable method of evaluation. I am curious how their visual inspection effects their certification from RCI? Do they have a facility average diversion rate certified by RCI that you can justify over a project specific breakdown of streams?
Kimberlee Ilardi
Director of Practice Groups / National Sustainability LeaderWhiting-Turner
October 25, 2019 - 12:32 pm
Thanks for the response! They are claiming that because they have an RCI Certification that they can give a visual inspection for an individual project, for a co-mingled waste stream, and that will count towards the LEEDv4 requirement. A few transfer stations have now directed us to the same verbiage on the RCI website and a quote from someone at RCI saying that it is "accecptable". Our biggest concern as the contractor is that we go along with this, and when it's reviewed, the documentation is denied by the GBCI reviewer. We also want to make sure we are honestly doing the right thing and diverting the most waste, but some of our projects are very limited space-wise and we don't have the ability to sort on site.
Tiffany Beffel
Managing PartnerInnovative Workshop Consulting
LEEDuser Expert
22 thumbs up
November 15, 2019 - 2:56 pm
I can definitely appreciate your concern and wish that industry were further along with regard to common practices. I do believe that if you have the RCI paperwork to document the diversion rate, that you should feel confident claiming that rate and submitting it to GBCI. On the chance that it does come back questioned, then it would be worth a conversation with your review team on what you are facing, emphasizing the practices in place to divert as much material as possible, and the fact that the facility has the RCI certification. Without looking at your project specifically and the paperwork you do have, I believe that you can rely on the RCI rate identified and that it is sufficient backup based upon what the LEED requirement asks that you submit.