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How is construction waste accounted for when utilizing off-site construction, like modular construction or pre-fabrication of assemblies?

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NC-2009 MRc2:Construction Waste Management

Modular construction

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Courtney Royal
Sr. Sustainability Consultant
Taitem Engineering
LEEDuser Basic Member
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Our projects entire building will be built as modular construction and assembled off-site in Brooklyn and when completed will be transferred to Manhattan. How does this work for the credit? Under FAQ it says not to account for off-site waste and only waste on-site. So does this mean we are not eligible for the credit? I must be missing something. Please help! Thanks!

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LEEDuser Expert
472 thumbs up

Fri, 05/03/2013 - 20:45

Courtney - This credit only addresses site generated waste. Will there be no finish work or any other process on site that generates waste including the site worker’s waste? I don't have experience with modular construction so I checked the Addenda and LEED Interpretations Database. Yet I couldn’t find any additional guidance on a situation where modular construction is used - except for a LEED for Homes LI ID #1856 - http://www.usgbc.org/leed-interpretations?keys=1856, which is not applicable for commercial projects. Does anyone have experience with modular construction and construction waste management that can shed some light on this for Courtney?
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Courtney Royal
Sr. Sustainability Consultant
Taitem Engineering
LEEDuser Basic Member
36 thumbs up

Fri, 05/03/2013 - 20:45

Thank you Michelle. I don't understand why only site generated waste and why not waste generated for construction? I mean isn't the intention to divert materials from the waste stream? So really the only waste we use in the calculations is the stuff generated on-site and then we can only document the recycled from that total? Seems so weird to me.
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LEEDuser Expert
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Fri, 05/03/2013 - 20:49

You make some great points. Maybe this is something that should be considered for LEED v5?
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Abena Darden
Vice President
Thornton Tomasetti
LEEDuser Premium Member
188 thumbs up

Fri, 05/03/2013 - 20:58

Courtney-I just finished constructing (or assembling) a modular building on my property and can tell you there certainly will be some small amount of waste. In our case it was wood scrap, cardboard packaging, paint cans for field applied paint, cement fiberboard and some galvanized metal roof scrap. For LEED purposes, it's not so much the amount of waste generated, but the percentage of that amount recycled, donated or otherwise diverted from landfill. So in our case, it was a couple of small site bins-full, most of which was recycled, maybe 60%. You can also count the crew's (beer) bottles and soda cans, etc. I agree it's not a comprehensive consideration of total waste during the unit's life cycle, but that's where LEED is right now.
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Tristan Roberts
Representative
Vermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
7780 thumbs up

Fri, 05/03/2013 - 21:04

From LEED v4's C&D Waste Management Credit:Option 2. Reduction of Total Waste Material (2 points)
Do not generate more than 2.5 pounds of construction waste per square foot (12.2 kilograms of waste per square meter) of the building’s floor area.I'd say this can easily be read to encompass prefab construction.
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Courtney Royal
Sr. Sustainability Consultant
Taitem Engineering
LEEDuser Basic Member
36 thumbs up

Sat, 05/04/2013 - 01:30

Thanks all! I guess that is where its at for the moment. Not a perfect system for a pre-fab/modular situation, but I guess it does reduce the amount of waste tracking, etc. we have to do for credit calculations!
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Joyce Kelly
Architect - Cx Provider - Building Performance Specialist
GLHN Architects & Engineers
LEEDuser Premium Member
25 thumbs up

Mon, 11/06/2017 - 22:45

Quick update: 4 yrs later: are we tracking waste during Modular / pre-fab Construction as well as during on-site construction?
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LEEDuser Expert
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Tue, 11/07/2017 - 18:33

Joyce - There's been no change on this for LEED 2009; however, Option 2 in MRc5 in LEED v4 (https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/credit/NC-v4/MRc5) rewards to minimization of construction waste generated on-site. So while modular/pre-fab projects do not have to count off-site waste they are rewarded for reducing on-site waste.

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