Greetings!
Our company is currently in need of clarification as to whether manufacturing scraps qualify as pre-consumer recycled content under LEED v4.0/v4.1, as we’ve seen different takes on this matter over the years on the LEEDUser forums.
The following conditions apply:
- Scraps from the die punch area (the area where factory workers stamp or punch the planks out of the LVT slab using a die cutter machine) are collected and taken to an area where the scraps are chopped/ground into small pieces and reused in the calendering process to make solid vinyl base layers. The calendering process is a mechanical step in the production of vinyl flooring that uses heated rollers to compress and smooth a vinyl compound into a flat sheet.
- The above processes occur within the same physical factory/facility.
Thanks in advance,
HMTX Industries
Craig Graber
Associate DirectorAtelier Ten
23 thumbs up
October 13, 2024 - 5:52 pm
No, reusing scrap from the mfg process (home scrap) does not qualify as recycled content for LEED. Here's an excerpt from the LEED v4 BD+C Reference Guide:
"Although it is a good practice, reusing materials reclaimed from the same process in which they were generated
does not contribute toward the recycled content of the material. Putting waste back into the same manufacturing
process from which it came is not considered recycling because it was not diverted from the waste stream.
Reuse of materials includes rework, regrind, or scrap product (ISO 14021); these count as preconsumer recycled
only if they are used in a different product than the one whose production generated the waste. For example, glass
culls that are reused to make new glass products do not count, but planer shavings, plytrim, sawdust, chips, bagasse,
and sunflower seed hulls are considered preconsumer recycled content when used to make new products."
Kimberly Lombardozzi
Sustainability ManagerW. R. Meadows, Inc.
9 thumbs up
October 14, 2024 - 9:03 am
Check out PART 260—GUIDES FOR THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING CLAIMS
eCFR :: 16 CFR 260.13 -- Recycled content claims.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-260
Example 1:
A manufacturer collects spilled raw material and scraps from the original manufacturing process. After a minimal amount of reprocessing, the manufacturer combines the spills and scraps with virgin material for use in production of the same product. A recycled content claim is deceptive since the spills and scraps are normally reused by industry within the original manufacturing process and would not normally have entered the waste stream.
Per these guides as they pertain to your example, you could not claim scraps from the die punch area as pre-consumer recycled content.