Hi folks,
I had inquired about waste-to-energy as being counted towards waste diversion regarding the Construction + Demolition Waste Mgmt prereq/credit and GBCI said the following:
"Waste-to-energy methods cannot count as diversion for the credit. The only two exceptions are noted below:
1. Wood that is incinerated/burned for fuel purposes and not just for disposal can count as diversion. This allowable for projects within the US as well as outside of the US.
2. For projects located outside of the US in regions with insufficient recycling infrastructure, waste-to-energy can count as diversion only if the team first exhausts all other traditional diversion options (i.e. recycling/reuse) AND then the waste-to-energy facility must meet the following regulations: European Commission Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC and Waste Incineration Directive 2000/76/EC, and the Waste to Energy facility must meet the applicable European Committee for Standardization (CEN) EN 303 standards."
Super helpful - hope this helps someone!
Monika Fabiánová
July 22, 2024 - 4:56 am
Hello.
Our project is in the EU and we have a plant that meets the regulations of the European Commission and Waste Incineration. How are we supposed to prove the exhaustion of all other traditional diversion options? Should we write some statement or make som comparison between those two options?
Dave Hubka
Practice Leader - SustainabilityEUA
LEEDuser Expert
542 thumbs up
July 29, 2024 - 1:28 pm
a few years back i was involved with a project in Poland that pursued the waste-to-energy option. the team researched the available waste managment companies and could not find one that could divert waste and track the associated waste diversion rate. we authored a narrative that stated "of the various waste managment companies that serve the project area, none offer waste diversion options and thus waste-to-energy is the remaining option to divert from the landfill. additionally reuse opportunities do not exist for the construction waste leaving the site'.
this was accepted by the LEED review team.