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EBOM-2009 MRc1: Sustainable Purchasing—Ongoing Consumables

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Recycled Content % Not Specified as Pre- or Post-Consumer

October 23, 2012

American University

Sustainability
American University

LEEDuser Basic Member

56 thumbs up

October 23, 2012

Several of the toner cartridges that our buildings routinely buy claim to have recycled content, but their product documentation does not specify whether it is post-consumer or post-industrial material. Would it be acceptable to assume that this blended rate is all post-industrial and thus need to meet the higher threshold (20% rather than 10% for postconsumer) to comply? Example product documentation: http://www.biggestbook.com/details.jsp?R=9375445. See "Product Details" tab. Many HP toner products have the same problem.

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Tristan Roberts

Representative
Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

11477 thumbs up

October 23, 2012 - 10:44 pm

Emily, I think you should be safe claiming it as pre-consumer (i.e., post-industrial) content.

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Jaida Anderson-Lozano

Enivronmental Engineer
Skanska Sverige AB

LEEDuser Basic Member

24 thumbs up

August 6, 2013 - 2:39 am

Hey Emily,

I was wondering if your strategy was approved by the GBCI?

Or when you hear the feedback it would be great to know as well.

thanks!

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FAQs about MRc1:

We purchased hundreds of ongoing consumables items during our performance period. Do we have to enter each discrete purchase into the LEED Online credit form?

Our organization has a centralized purchasing program that buys products for several buildings, including the one pursuing LEED-EBOM certification. It’s difficult to track which ongoing consumable goods purchases are used in the EBOM building versus the

Purchasing for our organization takes place in the EBOM project building, but not all ongoing consumable goods that are purchased end up being used there. Should we include all of the purchases in MRc1?

We have multiple tenants in our building, some of which are nonresponsive to requests for purchasing records. Can we exclude their purchases?

Does a signed letter from a product manufacturer that states the sustainability criteria met by a particular product count as acceptable LEED documentation?

Do manufacturer claims about the average recycled content, etc. in all its products count as acceptable LEED documentation? For example, a toner cartridge website says that the average post-consumer recycled content is 90% across all its toner products.

Lots of products we purchase seem like they could be tracked in two different purchasing credits. For example, toilet tissue seem like an ongoing consumable since it’s replaced frequently at a low cost per unit (MRc1), but it’s also used for our green

The credit language says we need to track paper (printing or copy paper, notebooks, notepads, envelopes), toner cartridges, binders, batteries and desk accessories. Is that everything we have to track for this credit?

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