ALL OTHER MATERIALS CLARIFICATIONS
Per the minimum waste diversion table (Table 16-1), project teams are required to divert “all other” materials from the landfill at a rate of 90 percent. This can be calculated on a combined weighted average by weight or volume. The definition of all other materials includes: asphalt; concrete and concrete masonry units (CMUs); brick, tile, and masonry materials; untreated lumber; plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), and particle board; gypsum wallboard scrap; glass; plumbing fixtures; windows; doors; cabinets; architectural fixtures; millwork, paneling and similar; electric fixtures, motors, switch gears, and similar HVAC equipment; duct work; control systems; and switches. Styrofoam packaging may be categorized as either Rigid Foam or All Other Materials, at the project team’s discretion. Rigid foam insulation must be calculated under the Rigid Foam, Carpet, and Insulation category. The combined weighted average of materials without material specific diversion rates needs to be recycled at a 90% or greater rate.
DEDICATED RECYCLING AND COMPOSTABLES COLLECTION
Dedicated infrastructure for the collection of recyclables and compostable food scraps must include a supporting operations strategy and policies and be in place prior to the Ready Audit.
MATERIALS CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN CLARIFICATIONS
The intent of the Materials Conservation Management Plan (MCMP) is to encourage the project team to have a thorough conversation about what can be done during each phase of design, construction, occupancy, and end of life to encourage conservation and reduce waste. It is expected that project teams will cover the four phases in a substantive way, and determine a range and depth of strategies appropriate to the project and its context. The Institute acknowledges that the amount and type of information to be provided in each MCMP will vary by project and Typology, however a one- to two-page document is unlikely to be sufficient.
The MCMP should be created at the start of the project and include information from the pre-building audit in order to set the tone and foster creative solutions for each phase. It should be reviewed and updated regularly as the project advances to ensure that the project team is taking best advantage of the opportunities for waste reduction. If strategies change over the course of the project, the project team should show how the plan evolved in their documentation. Project teams should provide quantitative documentation for implemented strategies wherever possible (e.g., quantity of material/waste reduction by area, transportation avoided, or carbon saved). At minimum one strategy in each of the four phases must provide some quantitative documentation of the results. Project teams may wish to consider synergies between these requirements and other Imperatives. For example, strategies used to meet the embodied carbon requirements under Imperative 07, Energy + Carbon Reduction (C4), could help meet waste reduction requirements in the design or end of life phases. For the construction phase, the waste diversion calculations are all the quantitative documentation that is required.
MCMP GUIDING QUESTIONS
To aid in the development of the Materials Conservation Management Plan (MCMP), the project team may want to consider the following questions in development of their plan. Answers can be documented in narrative or list format, and supported by diagrams, tables or photos as appropriate. These questions are suggestions, not requirements.
DESIGN PHASE
- How can the structure be designed to minimize materials and waste?
- How can space dimensions be based on typical raw material dimensions or palette quantities?
- What products and finishes can be selected to reduce waste, eliminate adhesives or finish coats, or increase lifespan compared to a typical product?
- What are the specific design phase materials conservation obstacles, and how can the project team work to overcome them?
- What are 4-7 design for disassembly measures that can be implemented, or examples of how the project can be designed for future disassembly?
CONSTRUCTION PHASE
- What training or specific practices could be implemented to reduce waste and ensure that waste is properly diverted?
- How can waste diversion be monitored and tracked during construction?
- What are the specific construction phase waste reduction and waste diversion obstacles, and how can the project team work to overcome them?
OPERATIONS PHASE
- How can waste be handled and diverted in the project’s ongoing operations?
- Where can recycling be collected? How can recycled material collection areas be communicated to occupants? Who has been identified as the recycled material hauler?
- Where can compost be collected? How can compost collection areas be communicated to occupants? How will the compost be used?
- What might be waste reduction or diversion obstacles during the operations phase? How can they be overcome?
- How might policy or practice changes related to waste diversion occur after completion of the project?
- Can the owner develop any purchasing guidelines or renovations guidelines that align with the Net Positive Waste Imperative or Materials Petal overall?
END OF LIFE PHASE
- What is the expected life span of the building?
- What specific materials or construction practices can contribute to increasing the lifespan of the structure?
- Are there any specific finishes or building components that are expected to have a shorter lifespan than that of the structure? How will the repair and replacement of these finishes and components be handled?
- What specific components of the building can be disassembled and salvaged or recycled? What design considerations can be made to account for disassembly?
PRE-BUILDING AUDIT CLARIFICATIONS
Project teams using sites with existing buildings, landscape elements, and/or infrastructure must complete a “pre-building audit” that inventories available materials and assemblies for reuse or recycling. A pre-building audit is an inventory of all existing materials found on site for the purpose of identifying opportunities to reuse and divert materials otherwise slated for demolition and landfill. For an Existing Building, this includes all existing built or installed components, landscape elements, and infrastructure. For Interior projects, this includes all materials that would typically be within the tenant scope of work.
At least, 80% of demolition waste must be diverted from the landfill to recycling, salvage, or other beneficial use. Incineration and alternative daily cover are not considered beneficial use. Salvageable materials, such as carpet, cabinets, windows and appliances, must be identified in the pre-building audit and diverted for reuse, recycling or donation. Project teams must include the demolition waste in diversion calculations for any building, landscape elements, infrastructure, and/or tenant fit-out materials on the site when the project team takes possession of the property.
The pre-building audit process typically consists of a site visit to visually survey existing building and infrastructure and to estimate the quantity of materials and their conditions (e.g., damage from fire or water, rot, hazardous materials, etc.). An audit report should be produced, identifying each material, as well as potential markets for salvage, recycling, or on-site reuse. The pre-building audit report should be included in the project’s Materials Conservation Management Plan (MCMP).
Pre-building audits should take place early in the design process so that materials can be identified for potential reuse on site, and so that salvage and deconstruction activities can begin prior to demolition. Ideally, a deconstruction specialist or contractor would perform the audit, though anyone on the project team may perform the audit.
SALVAGED MATERIALS CLARIFICATIONS
The requirement for one salvaged material per 500 square meters (sm) (5382 sf) of gross building area, rounded up to the nearest whole number, is intended to showcase opportunities for beneficial reuse of salvaged materials. Projects over 15,000 square meters (161,459 sf) may cap the number of unique salvaged products at 30. Multiple salvaged products may be used in the same product category, but projects using this cap must use salvaged products in at least 10 separate product categories (i.e., CSI Sections). The salvaged materials do not need to be distributed evenly throughout the project, but should be sufficiently spread out and prominently located so as to be visible to each of the primary occupant types in the building.
Table 16-2 Minimum Product Count and Product Categories for Salvaged Materials
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All projects of the Existing Building Typology are exempt from this requirement, whether or not they are considered an adaptive reuse. All other Typologies, including Interior projects, must comply with salvaged materials requirements.
Salvaged materials do not need to be vetted for Imperative 14, Responsible Sourcing or Imperative 13, Red List, but should not be primarily comprised of Red List ingredients. If a product is refurbished in any way, the new components and materials must be vetted across all applicable Imperatives. For example, if a project team is using a salvaged light fixture and the fixture requires rewiring, then the new cable and lamp (i.e. bulb) must be vetted.
The use of salvaged materials can reduce or eliminate waste and the associated impacts of creating new products. In addition, their usage can demonstrate how used materials can be re-purposed. To recognize that different product types achieve these intents to different extents, the Institute has created the following guidance on counting the number of salvaged products in a project.
Typically, salvaged materials are counted by discrete products (one door, one sink, one fixture, etc.). However, if the materials are repetitive and purchased as a package from one source, they should not be counted separately (e.g., 10 identical door knobs from one supplier would be considered one salvaged product, not ten). On the other hand, to acknowledge that some of those salvaged “packages” have a significant impact, non-discrete, high-volume products such as flooring and siding may sometimes count as multiple salvaged products for the purpose of this Imperative. Such materials may count as one salvaged material for every room or every 50 square meters of installed product, or for each distinct type of re-use (e.g., if salvaged wood plank material was used on both the floors and the walls, that would be two uses and thus count as two distinct salvaged products).
Variables to consider when determining the number of salvaged materials used on the project include:
- Sourcing (did the acquisition of each material require a separate sourcing effort?)
- Number of discrete products
- The volume of the salvaged material
- Ways the product is re-used in the project
Salvaged consumer goods that are reused as building, finish, or furniture at the end of their life may contribute to a project’s salvaged count. Salvaged large furniture items or art can count toward the salvaged materials count when used as is.
See Materials Petal Scope Clarifications for further information.
WASTE DIVERSION CLARIFICATIONS
For Waste Diversion Clarifications, please see Imperative 12, Responsible Materials.
