The Post, Pre and Industrial Difference

Recycled Content - LEED - NC and LEED - CI credits 4.1 and 4.2.

The intent of the credit is to increase the demand for building products that incorporate recycled content materials therefore reducing impacts resulting from extraction and processing of new virgin materials. Okay, pretty straightforward in concept but the collection of the data and computation of the data can be tricky and difficult.

Credit 4.1 asks for 5% of total value of material on the project to be comprised of recycled content. The 5% must include both post-consumer recycled content and post-industrial / preconsumer recycled content. Post-consumer recycled content is worth double the credit as pre-consumer. What is the difference between the two and why is one worth more than the other? What is post-industrial mean?

Post-consumer waste is a waste type produced by the end consumer of a material stream; that is, where the waste-producing use did not involve the production of another product. It is simpy the garbage that individuals routinely discard, either in a waste receptacle or a dump or worse littering.

Pre-consumer waste or post- industrial waste is the reintroduction of manufacturing scrap ( such as trimmings from paper production, defective aluminum cans, etc ) back into the manufacturing process. Preconsumer waste is commonly used in manufacturing industries , and is often not considered recycling in the traditional sense. Preconsumer waste is often called post-industrial waste.

The way I remember the difference is that post-consumer waste is the plastic water bottle that you just finished. If you recycle that into a HAG office chair, you meet the post - consumer criteria. The scraps from the worksurface that end up on the floor of the Haworth manufacuring plant that are recycled into particle board or firewood to heat the factory is preconsumer / post-industrial waste.

Find out more at www.ftc.gov/bcp/grnrule/guides980427.htm - the FTC Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, 16 CFR 260.7.

Wikipedia helped me articulate the above information about post-consumer waste - they also have a list of things that are qualifiers.

Post-consumer waste is worth double the amount of credit than preconsumer because it diverts waste from landfills.

Lastly, post-industrial and preconsumer are the same thing.

Know your words, know what they mean and then get ready to compute.