On-site or off-site separation

Amrit Kaur

Association for Energy Affordability

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Project location :

United States

August 18, 2017

The credit general requirement requires a percentage of material recycled, and a formal report indicating how much was recycled and to what purpose. The detailed step by step guidance has an entry explaining what to do "If the waste management company separates, diverts, and disposes of construction waste" implying as I understand it that this method would be acceptable. However, steps to "Mark and designate containers. Have the waste management company provide separate containers for different types of waste based on its destination ..." and "... Sort and set aside, in a marked and designated area, lumber, plywood... " are also included making it a bit vague if offsite separation is a valid path to meet this credit. Any thoughts?

Post a reply

Ian Johnson

Senior Director

Linnean Solutions

LEEDuser Expert

2 thumbs up

Mon, 08/28/2017 - 13:36

Your best bet is to have separate dumpsters for each of the main types of construction debris (wood, gyp board, metal, cardboard, etc.), however, the waste management company may do the separation of waste off-site. If waste is separated off-site, the waste company will need to show proof of the separation of waste from recycling and the final destination for each of the materials. (Off-site sorting gets more complicated and may become significantly harder to track.) As it states in the reference guide, facility "average" is NOT acceptable for documentation purposes and you will still need to show a site specific diversion rate to earn credit. You may want to partner with local organizations who may come directly to the site to pick up certain recyclables.

Carissa Sawyer

Certification Team Lead

Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)

LEEDuser Premium Member

11 thumbs up

Tue, 01/22/2019 - 06:27

Amrit and Ian, Note that there has been an addenda posted regarding this credit on 7/2/18 that changes this answer. LI 10479 (https://www.usgbc.org/leedaddenda/10479) states that for MR 3.2 Construction Waste Reduction in LEED for Homes v2008 and for MRc Construction Waste Management in LEED for Homes v4, projects may earn up to 2 points by following the NC v4 credit MRc Construction and Demolition Waste Management, using Option 1: Waste Diversion. This approach includes using the facility average for diversion rates. Carissa