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NC-v4 MRc5:Construction and demolition waste management

Reporting Clarification for Waste Hauler/Transfer Station

Melissa Johnston

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

Project location :

United States

January 3, 2018

Hello,

I work for a hauling company/transfer station and am a LEED Green Associate.

I would like to make sure that my company can meet the reporting needs of customers seeking LEED certification for their construction projects. Could you please help with the following clarifications for the Materials and Resources chapter?

1. For the construction and demolition waste management credit, what materials count as waste streams? Is there a list of approved materials? I assume C&D waste streams would be: metal, wood, concrete/masonry. My facility also recycles/composts: cardboard, office paper, bottles and cans, plastic bottles and tubs, food waste, yard debris. Do these materials count as well if they are generated from the construction site or job trailer and recycled?

2. The construction and demolition waste prerequisite requires that 5 material streams be identified for diversion, but points are earned in the credit category for diverting 3 or 4 waste streams... It seems that the plan should require a minimum of 3 materials instead of 5 to match the subsequent credit category. Is it ok to name 5 waste streams in the plan but only aim to diver 3 or 4 for the credit?

3. Judging by the online calculator, commingled C&D counts as 1 material stream if our transfer station does not further separate/measure the material. Is that correct?

4. Upon customer request, we can separate the materials from a commingled C&D drop box. We have only a total weight for the entire box. We then visually estimate the volume of each material type. Using volume to weight conversions for each material type along with the total weight of the box, we can provide approximate weights for each material type to the customer. Is this visual estimate/volume to weight method acceptable by LEED? Can these items then be counted as separate material streams? It is not possible to weigh the materials after sorting them.

5. In a training course offered by EverBlue, I learned that an exemplary performance point can be earned for the construction and demolition category by achieving both Option 1 and Option 2, Path 2. Is that correct? I can not find this explained of listed on the USGBC website - could you tell me where exemplary performance measures/credits are listed?

6. I assist customers in writing their Construction and Demolition waste management plans. A requirement of the plan is to "describe where the materials will be taken and how the recycling facility will process the material." Is our transfer station considered the final destination for the materials, or do we need to report specifically where each material will be sent for recycling? (This can change weekly or is sometimes unknown due to our use of brokers).

7. Are there any LEED training literature/classes/webinars for waste haulers and transfer stations?

8. For the 3rd party certified pilot credit, how do we get our transfer station certified? Can our local County government certify? Does ISO certification count as 3rd party certification or is it a requirement of certification?

Thank you,

Melissa Johnston, LEED® Green Associate™

Waste Reduction Specialist

Post a reply

Paula Melton

Editorial Director

BuildingGreen, Inc.

LEEDuser Expert

159 thumbs up

Mon, 01/08/2018 - 15:58

Melissa, I don't know the answer to all of these questions, but I think I can help with a few. 5. You can indeed get exemplary performance for achieving Option 1 (either path) and Option 2. Exemplary performance options are in the reference guide. 7. I don't know of any training programs specifically for waste haulers and transfer stations. I did find this potentially useful course online. 8. Based on the credit language for the pilot credit, it looks like the certification you need is the Recycling Certification Institute's Certification Of Real Rates (CORR) protocol. There is more info about this certification on the RCI website.

Melissa Johnston

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

Mon, 01/08/2018 - 22:06

Thank you! I am looking in to the course you recommended. Much appreciated! Melissa

LEEDuser Expert

472 thumbs up

Mon, 01/08/2018 - 22:38

Paula - Thanks for addressing Melissa's questions #5, 7, and 8. I agree with all your statements. Melissa -

First, it's too bad you are a LEEDuser Basic Member because you cannot see the LEEDuser's Viewpoint above where answers to many of your questions as well as additional resources. Please consider becoming a LEEDuser Premium Member - https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/pricing.
In addition, I hope you have purchased the LEED Reference Guide for Building Design + Construction (https://www.usgbc.org/resources/leed-reference-guide-building-design-and-construction) as many answers are available there including the requirements for Exemplary Performance as Paula pointed out. See also https://www.usgbc.org/help/how-do-i-access-web-based-leed-v4-reference-guides.
LEEDuser's LEED 2009 forums have a lot of answers to common questions. I've referenced a few current links below but consider using the powerful new search function in https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forums?f%5B0%5D=im_field_credits%3A867 as well as for LEED v4 (https://www.usgbc.org/node/2601020?return=/credits).
And lastly please also be sure to fully explore all the tabs in the LEED Credit Library. See for https://www.usgbc.org/node/2601020 for MRp2 and https://www.usgbc.org/node/2601031 for MRc5.

Material Streams - There is not an approved list of materials. The LEEDuser's viewpoint explains material streams based on the definition of "flows of materials coming from a job site into markets for building materials" in the Reference Guide. In addition the online LEED Reference Guide excellent video “Defining Waste Streams” provides additional information and states that a waste stream is defined by where the waste goes. Common materials are listed in the dropdown menu of C&D Waste Management Calculator but there is an Other choice where you can specify something else. And yes, while never explicitly defined I've always included all materials generated on-site (even in the jobsite trailer) (see https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/house-hold-rubbish-considered-construction-waste). Please note that the v4 Reference Guide says "As a best practice, a material stream should constitute at least 5% (by weight or volume) of total diverted materials." So that may be hard to achieve with the materials that you listed.
# of streams in plan - I agree with your assessment and this discrepancy between the plan and the credit has been a source of consternation (see https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/streams). I think the approach you outlined is the way to go.
Commingled = 1 stream - Yes. If a vendor cannot provide project-specific data, then commingled is one stream. (We been working for almost a year to get this clarified in the Reference Guide. I'm hopeful it will be in a 2018 LEED Quarterly Update - https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/tipsheet/essential-leed-interpretations-addenda-and-rating-system-updates.)
Visual Inspection - Visual inspection is NEVER acceptable for LEED purposes. See https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/alternative-calculation-mrc2, https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/regulation-commingled-recycling-facilities, and https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/forum/conformity-commingled-facility-process. And I'll apologize in advance that some of links in those forums relate to the old LEEDuser (pre-September 2017) and hence are bad. So, no - if you do not weigh or measure the volume of the separated material, you cannot count these materials as separate streams.
See Paula's answers to your #5, #7, and #8.
Final destination of material - The point of this in the plan is to ensure that materials are actually recycled/diverted and not landfilled. If your transfer station doesn't actually recycle materials, then as a LEED project manager I would be expecting to get a list of locations in the plan where the materials are ultimately recycled. I say a list because I recognize that some materials may have different sources/a variety of sources over time. As a LEEDuser Premium member, you get access to a template for a CWM Plan under Documentation Toolkit.

Nathan Gauthier

Director of FM Integration and Sustainability

Shawmut Design and Construction

LEEDuser Basic Member

21 thumbs up

Tue, 01/09/2018 - 20:05

Any thoughts on if commingled waste sent to a transfer station can count as recycled? The new language says we can use the facility recycling rate if it is a closed system. Waste sent to be sorted and recycled elsewhere can't count towards your diversion rates (see below). Does the transfer station send out commingled waste to other facilities to sort or is all sorting done on-site and then single stream wastes sent off to be recycled elsewhere? Language from the reference guide regarding commingled waste: The project team uses the facility’s average diversion rate, which must be regulated by the local or state authority and must exclude alternative daily cover (ADC). This system must be a closed system; shipping waste to another municipality to manage, thus burdening another system, does not count as diverting the waste.

LEEDuser Expert

472 thumbs up

Tue, 01/09/2018 - 22:29

Nathan - Unfortunately we have still not heard from the MR TAG regarding our commingled concerns from February 2017. I've heard the TAGs have been focused for several months on LEED v4.1 but I can only hope our concerns have not been lost in that push. And maybe this is a new thought we need clarification on. To get back to your question today, I think it depends on what happens when the material leaves the transfer station and what the ultimate disposal location of the commingled waste is. I don't think I'm reading "sorted" like you are in the language. It says the waste cannot be shipped for its management. It's my understanding that Transfer Stations are just that - places of temporary staging typically from collection vehicles. Then the materials get consolidated and sent to go to either a sorting facility or their ultimate disposal location. If in fact a transfer station is just sending its commingled onto someone else to manage it (like another transfer station and NOT a sorting facility) then I would not think it would count under the closed system requirement you quoted. But if they are sending it to a sorting facility, then the sorting facility should be able to provide information on where the materials were disposed of. I hope with all the help we've given Melissa she'll share her knowledge from the field. The regional C&D recycler that I work with here collects commingled waste and then sorts it for delivery to various recyclers or the landfill. Its sorting facility is not the ultimate disposal location so they provide reports documenting where the waste was recycled or landfilled. When in doubt, I always come back to the credit intent. For this one, teams need to be able to prove that their waste was recovered, reused, and recycled and not landfilled or incinerated (without the allowed exception for certain waste-to-energy applications). If their vendor can't document where the materials went, then those materials should be counted as landfilled.

Melissa Johnston

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

Wed, 01/10/2018 - 00:41

First... info on transfer stations. Transfer stations are common in urban areas. No materials stay at the transfer station -they are not actually recycled or landfilled on site. Transfer stations are where waste is sorted and then sent on to other locations, like a landfill, commercial composting facility, paper mill, glass recycler etc... Some transfer stations are also MRFs (Material Recovery Facilities) and will sort mixed recycling (bottles, cans, paper) and bale like materials. The bales are shipped to various recyclers. And some MRFs also sort C&D materials either by picking through the pile or by using a large-scale sort line designed for C&D materials. Once sorted, the wood, metal, concrete etc. will be picked up or shipped out to a recycler that handles that specific material. Whether it be garbage, recycling, or compost, all materials will leave the transfer station/MRF and head to a final destination. "Commingled waste" means different things to different transfer stations. At my transfer station in SW Washington, we accept commingled C&D recycling (wood, concrete, metal, cardboard all mixed in the same drop box). But all garbage (even dry garbage related to the C&D project) is prohibited from the C&D recycling drop box. The transfer station will sort the C&D recycling in to separate categories and send the materials on to a facility specializing in recycling that specific material. But, if there is garbage in the drop box, the entire load would be charged the garbage rate and might be landfilled. In Oregon, Portland-area, recycling can be mixed with dry garbage (no household garbage, food, liquid, haz waste) in the same drop box. And the garbage and recycling would be sorted and sent to a landfill or recycler depending on the material. In response to, "Any thoughts on if commingled waste sent to a transfer station can count as recycled?", I would say yes. If the commingled waste is sent to the transfer station for the purpose or sorting and recycling, then the material will be sent on to a recycler (so long as the contents of the drop-box are actually recyclable and not contaminated with garbage). The intent of the transfer station is to provide a close-in, urban-area facility for sorting recycling/garbage and they are very common, I can't imagine it not counting. But, a further complication is that after sorting the materials, transfer stations might use brokers for the sorted recyclable materials or C&D materials might be sent to various local recyclers, so it may be unknown where a specific load of recycling from a C&D project will ultimately go after the transfer station - it is only known that the materials were sorted and sent off for recycling. In response to, "Does the transfer station send out commingled waste to other facilities to sort or is all sorting done on-site and then single stream wastes sent off to be recycled elsewhere?"... Usually the recycling is sorted at the transfer station and then sent off for recycling. At least, that is how the transfer stations in the Vancouver, WA/Portand, OR area work. I imagine some smaller municipalities might send unsorted C&D recycling on to another facility, but I don't know of any examples. Fourth... on the commingled waste language... "Language from the reference guide regarding commingled waste: The project team uses the facility’s average diversion rate, which must be regulated by the local or state authority and must exclude alternative daily cover (ADC). This system must be a closed system; shipping waste to another municipality to manage, thus burdening another system, does not count as diverting the waste." The first sentence is clear... but I am unclear about what is meant by a closed-system. In the case of our transfer stations... garbage is sent to a landfill 165 miles across the state. Recycling might be sent to a local recycler, another state, or even overseas. I guess I would argue that sorting the recycling counts as managing the recycling even if it is shipped to far away destinations. I will say that working for a hauler and transfer station... how to help contractors comply with LEED on our end is not always clear. It would be great if there were more trainings or even better, more consultation with haulers/transfer stations so we can all be on the same page when developing LEED rules and language.

LEEDuser Expert

472 thumbs up

Mon, 10/29/2018 - 21:42

Melissa - Thanks for all the detailed information you provided!