Our client has rigorous durability/maintenance standards for the project\'s lobby tile, in addition to our desire to specify one with recycled content. After extensive study, we have found only one that meets our requirements, and that is Crossville\'s GeoStone Eco-Cycle, who\'s marketing material (listed in Building Green\'s website under "Recycled Content")states, "Crossville Porcelain Stone offers a line of ceramic tile called GeoStone EcoCycle made from 50-100% unfired raw materials generated during the manufacturing process of standard-color porcelain tiles, including a small percentage of dust from the air and water filtration systems." In previous CIRs, it has been stated that a material cannot count toward this credit if the material is "industrial scrap." When the manufacturer was contacted, we were told that the product contained over 40% post-industrial recycled content because they utilize the sediment found in their wastewater. Our question is, from this description, would the so-called recycled content in this product be considered "industrial scrap?" There is quite a large amount of it in the project, and therefore it has a significant cost impact on our Recycled Content credit.
Per the LEED-NC v2.1 Reference Guide, this credit excludes in-house waste from its definition of post-industrial recycled content as this would be considered conventional practice. The Reference Guide states that "post-industrial recycled content is output from a process that has not been used as part of a consumer product, that is sold, traded, or exchanged under commercial terms (including auditable transactions between profit centers within an organization) as feedstock for another industrial process, that would otherwise be landfilled, incinerated or somehow disposed of as a waste, as defined by the Federal Trade Commission." Please note that the listing on BuildingGreen\'s website is written by BuildingGreen\'s editors, and, while it may have been informed by the company\'s claims, it is not Crossville\'s marketing material.