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CI-2009 MRc4: Recycled Content
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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?
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11478 thumbs up
December 28, 2010 - 5:59 pm
Reclaimed wood falls under MRc3.2, since it is reused but not recycled through a manufacturing process.
Sara Neff
Director, Sustainability ProgramsKilroy Realty Corporation
65 thumbs up
April 29, 2011 - 8:21 pm
Doesn't it matter what the wood was reclaimed from? For example, if it came from piece of wood left behind after logging, wouldn't this be reclaimed since the 'logging' is a process that's part of wood manufacturing? But, if a tree fell over in a storm and that was used in a table, that wouldn't be considered recycled because it never went through a process of any sort. I don't understand where the line is drawn.
Nadav Malin
CEOBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
844 thumbs up
May 2, 2011 - 11:40 am
Hi Sara, You're right, it does matter where the wood came from. And the terminology is a bit tricky, especially when it comes to wood. The forest products industry sometimes uses the term "reclaimed" wood for logging leftovers, but LEED doesn't consider that reused or recycled. It's important to leave some "slash" in the forest for ecological reasons, so if that were allowed it would be hard to know where to draw the line. And, as you suggest, storm-cleanup wood also doesn't count as reused or recycled. For wood fiber to count as recycled it has to come from and end-use (post-consumer) or a manufacturing process that is further along the chain than the harvesting step (pre-consumer). For wood to count as reused for MR credit 3, it has to be in pretty much it's original form (some resurfacing is allowed) and from material that was previously used as a product or building.There is more about this in the details on this credit available to LEEDuser members.