MRc4 steel made outside US, average recycled content

Debra—The LEED NC-2009 Reference Guide states, “For steel products where no recycled content information is available, assume the recycled content to be 25% postconsumer. No other material has been recognized as having a similarly consistent minimum recycled content. Many steel products contain 90% or higher recycled content if manufactured by the electric arc furnace process, so it may be beneficial to obtain actual information from the manufacturer rather than relying on the default value.” LEED’s Global ACP Guidance does not contradict this approach. Furthermore, LEED Interpretation LI#10246 says, “Note, for the purposes of LEED, steel has a previously established industry average of 25% post-consumer recycled content which does not require documentation on a per product basis….Applicable Internationally.” Therefore, even though the default percentage for steel was probably based on US averages for steel production, there does not seem to be anything disallowing use of the default percentage for steel milled outside the US. I have never seen reviewers question it.