Recycled Content & FSC Certified Wood Credits Grey Area

For doors, the FSC claims are typically based on the weight or volume of the door core if it is a door core made of wood and of FSC material. Ciams may also be based on the vertical and horizontal edges and layons being FSC if utilizing a neutral based core such as wheatboard. The door cores that are of wood based material are typically a FSC Mixed Credit Claim. Once the FSC core is made into an assembly, it becomes a FSC Mixed % claim. Because FSC Mixed Credit claims are based on volume accounting, you would need to know from the door manufacturer what type of wood is used in their FSC credit account. This is key as FSC allows the credit accounts to include "new" wood and "recycled". There are door core manufacturers that only utilize new wood in their FSC credit accounts, which would mean that the FSC claim on the total assembly if based on that core would be of new wood. These same manufacturers may also use other controlled wood or recycled material in buiding the assembly, but the recycled material even if it is FSC is excluded from their FSC credit account. Door manufacturers will note both the recycled and FSC percentages. Manufacturers utilizing the core made from a credit account of all new wood will note that the FSC claim for that assembly (door) is based on all new wood, the remaining percentage up to a combined 100% would contribute towards the MRc4 credit. You can not exceed either one of the individual claims of recycled or FSC, or 100% combined. The door manufacturers that utilize core whereby the FSC credit account includes FSC recycled material and new wood have a more difficult time in separating recycled from new wood. Doors specified to contribute the most to the Mrc7 credit should note that the door core must be wood and that the FSC claim should be based on all new wood, including claims that are based on FSC Mixed Credit components.

The key question to ask those manufacturers is if the FSC claim is based on the door core and the core itself has a FSC Mixed Credit claim, do they only utilize "new" wood in their FSC credit account. If their FSC credit account includes recycled content-even if it is FSC recycled, it can only apply to the MRc4 credit. LEED is different than FSC and while FSC allows recycled material to be used in the credit account, LEED requires all reclaimed, recovered, and recycled material to only contribute towards the MRc4 credit. This was further clarified in the USGBC 7.19.2010 addenda. Because of the differences in FSC and LEED, noting that they have a core that they only document FSC Mixed and another that they document recycled content does not clarify the content as to what percentage is new wood or what is reclaimed, recovered, or recycled. Some door core manufacturers have chosen to pay a premium to only source FSC new wood for their credit accounts for this reason.

Hello, Judy. Are you 100% sure that there is no option to claim the FSC-certified recycled material either as MR Credit 4 Recycled OR as MR Credit 7 Certified? We had been told by a reliable source about two years ago that you could claim one or the other, but not both.
Thanks

I should clarify that I am talking about core materials in cabinets and panelings, not in doors.

FSC recycled material can only be claimed under the MRc4 credit, not under the MRc7 credit.

Hi Judy,
The FSC US "FAQ's regarding the LEED Certified Wood Credit" webpage has this to say about FSC Certified Recycled Wood:

"As of April 2008, the guiding language approved by the USGBC Materials and Resources Technical Advisory Group (MR TAG) for documenting the use of FSC-certified wood across all LEED rating systems — commercial (i.e. LEED-NC and LEED-CI) as well as residential (LEED for Homes) — is as follows......Wood products identified as “FSC Recycled” or “FSC Recycled Credit” are not to be counted on the MRc7 template. These products qualify instead under MRc4 – Recycled Content."

Here's a shortcut to the FSC page where this information is found:
http://bit.ly/GYmI54

Note that this is dated April, 2008 - so there is always a chance that this ruling has changed.

Cheers,
Doug

I have a follow up question about this.

I have a door and it has a door core with recycled content and an FSC veneer without recycled content. Can I separate - by weight - the two so that the core is listed under MRc4 and the veneer is listed under MRc7? Or will a reviewer simply look to see that the product name is not listed under both, even if in different capacities?

Hi Lauren,
My understanding is no. The door is an assembly that you can apply to MR4 for the recycled content or to MR7 for the FSC. There are already difficult areas with respect to considering the whole thing "new wood" for the purposes of FSC if it's designated FSC Mixed. But we are allowed to do so by policy to make this trade off work. I'd be interested to hear if someone else has another take that has made it through review and not been considered double dipping.

Hi team, I just got off the phone with Marshfield and they sent me a letter that describes that they can get credit for a "new" wood product that also has recycled content. Anyone have thoughts on this?

"Re: Marshfield Particleboard Core Doors FSC Claim
The FSC Mix 81% claim on our particle board core doors is based on the volume of the actual FSC core material in the finished assembly. The core material itself prior to being placed into the door assembly is a FSC Mix Credit claim. Marshfield DoorSystems manufactures our own particleboard door core. All of the FSC material in the core is considered "new" wood when it comes to contribution to the MRc7 credit, as only FSC "NEW" wood is utilized in our FSC credit account. While FSC allows FSC Recycled Material to be counted in a FSC Mix Credit account, Marshfield DoorSystems chooses to exclude all FSC Recycled Material from that credit account in order to comply with the “new wood” requirement as defined in the LEED® Rating Systems. The door assembly, is comprised of various wood door components that are FSC COC material and FSC Controlled Wood. The door assembly is also 3rd party certified through SCS for 57% pre-consumer recycled content. Marshfield DoorSystems notes both the FSC percentage and recycled percentage on this product. For LEED documentation purposes, the project must decide where the contribution dollars are needed as it pertains to this product. Any portion of either claim can be used in documenting contribution to the MRc4 and MRc7 credit, as long as the combined percentages do not exceed 100% and neither exceeds the actual claim of 57% or 81%. As an example, the project is able to use the full 81% FSC with the remaining 19% as recycled, or may choose to use the 57% recycled with the remaining 43% as FSC. As another example, the project may choose to use 50% recycled and 50% FSC. The USGBC has confirmed that Marshfield's documentation of both claims is accurate and allowed due to the fact that only new wood is used in the company FSC Mix Credit account.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions."

That would be terrific and sounds logical. We've certainly seen plenty of MDF products that can legitimately claim both. It seems that the backup however would never agree with what you were claiming and might present some issues for the reviewers, especially if you elected to split the difference as in this example and claim 50/50. Perhaps a GBCI rep could step in on this thread and give us all feedback on Marshfields' claim.

I see your point Michelle. Can someone from the GBCI step in to clarify? Is it ever the case that a product can be represented under both MRc7 and MRc4? This will make a big difference for my project where we have a lot of these wood doors.