Recycling Rates

I have exactly the same question. I am not sure if the interval is referring to the facility or the project. Can anyone shed light?

I wrote the LEED Coach but haven't heard back yet. The following is what I wrote:

Due to site constraints, our LEED BD+C project is planning to pursue Pilot Credit 87 for Verified Construction & Demolition Recycling Rates. The credit language states “Recycling rates applied to a project's waste generation must be the weighted average for the facility over the time in which the project sent materials to the facility. Time increments shall not be reported less than quarterly and no more than annually, and must use consistent time increments throughout calculations.” The contractor said that the process they use is a monthly reporting interval. The language could be interpreted to mean that the facility or the project team needs to submit no less than quarterly and no more than annually. How do we ensure that the reporting intervals qualify for the pilot credit? Should we have the contractor merge the monthly reports into quarterly/annual reports? The credit language also states, “Facilities submit data to the certification organization that supports the recycling rate, such as a mass balance recycling rate (tons in/tons out) for a twelve-month period, or quarterly sorts completed and verified by an independent third-party entity.” Does the reporting interval for the project need to match up with the interval at which the facility submits data? We look forward to confirming the proper reporting process for this pilot credit.

I got a response from a LEED Coach:

The requirement you are referring to in your inquiry is for the recycling facility's reporting of their facility average diversion rate. You can view the average diversion rate for RCI certified facilities here: https://www.recyclingcertification.org/certified-facilities/ to confirm they are reporting their rates at least quarterly. Most of the RCI certified facilities report their monthly diversion rates. It is not intended for project teams to report their project-specific diversion rate in a quarterly interval. The project-specific diversion rate is calculated for just the total project at the end of construction. Note that the project must use an RCI certified facility in order to meet the pilot credit requirements: https://www.usgbc.org/credits/new-construction-core-and-shell-schools-new-construction-retail-new-construction-healthca-49?return=/credits/New%20Construction/v4

Your contractor for the LEED project can report their haul data to you in any interval that works for your project. You will take the haul data and complete a diversion calculation based on the average diversion rate for the facility that corresponds to the time period of the project's haul data. That means if the facility reports their rates on a monthly basis, but the contractor reports your project-specific haul volume/weight on a quarterly basis, then you'll need to calculate the facility's weighted average diversion rate for the 3 month period and then apply that to the project's quarterly volume/weight for that 3 month period.

This is really helpful. I was worried that average rate would be used instead of the actual rate for the project. It makes sense that the average diversion rate would come from the RCI facility rather than through contractor.