SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Materials and Resources - IV

DR AVLOKITA AGRAWAL
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING

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RECYCLED CONTENT

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 Terms and Definitions
• Assembly recycled content is the percentage of material in a product that
is either post-consumer or pre-consumer recycled content. It is
determined by dividing the weight of the recycled content by the overall
weight of the assembly.

• Fly ash is the solid residue derived from incineration processes. Fly ash can
be used as a substitute for Portland cement in concrete.

• Recycled content is the proportion, by mass, of pre-consumer or post-

consumer recycled material in a product (ISO 14021).

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 Post-consumer Recycled Content
• Post-consumer recycled content is the
percentage of material in a product that was
consumer waste.
– The recycled material was generated by
household, commercial, industrial, or
institutional end-users and can no longer be
used for its intended purpose. It includes returns
of materials from the distribution chain (ISO
14021).
– Examples include construction and demolition
debris, materials collected through recycling
programs, discarded products (e.g., furniture,
cabinetry, decking), and landscaping waste (e.g.,
leaves, grass clippings, tree trimmings).
Image Credits: Sensitile

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 Pre-consumer recycled content
• Pre-consumer recycled content, formerly known
as postindustrial content, is the percentage of
material in a product that is recycled from
manufacturing waste.
– Examples include planer shavings, sawdust,
bagasse, nut shells, culls, trimmed materials, and
paper from over-issue publications, obsolete
inventories, etc.
– Excluded are rework, regrind, or scrap materials
capable of being reclaimed within the same process
that generated them (ISO 14021).

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Pre-consumer versus Post-consumer Recycled Content

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 Environmental Issues
• Products with recycled content reduce virgin materials use and solid waste
volumes.

• As the number of building products containing recycled content grows, the

marketplace for recycled materials develops.

• Post-consumer recycled content is derived from materials that can no longer be

used for their original purpose. Pre-consumer recycled content consists of raw
material diverted from the waste stream during the manufacturing process.
– Although the use of both types of recycled content is encouraged, post-consumer recycled
content is accorded greater value because of its increased environmental benefit over the life
cycle of the product.

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 Economic Issues
• Many commonly used products are now available with recycled content, including metals,
concrete, masonry, gypsum wallboard, acoustic tile, carpet, ceramic tile, rubber flooring and wall
base, and insulation. Research all recycled-content materials for environmental considerations.

• For example, if the recycled-content product is not as durable as its conventional counterpart, the
environmental benefits may be compromised by the need for more frequent replacement.

• Most recycled-content products, however, exhibit performance similar to products containing only
virgin materials and can be incorporated into building projects with ease and little to no cost
premium.

• Many standard materials contain recycled content because of how they are manufactured;
examples are steel, gypsum board, and acoustical ceiling tile.

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 Compliance Criteria
• To increase demand for building products that incorporate recycled content materials,
thereby reducing impacts resulting from extraction and processing of virgin materials.

• Use materials with recycled content1 such that the sum of post-consumer2 recycled
content plus 1/2 of the pre-consumer3 content constitutes at least 10% or 20%, based
on cost, of the total value of the materials in the project.

Cement concrete block with recycled content

Image Source: GreenSurfaceResource.com

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 Materials with Recycled Content - Process
• The recycled content value of a material assembly is determined by weight. The recycled fraction of
the assembly is then multiplied by the cost of assembly to determine the recycled content value.

• Mechanical, electrical and plumbing components, and specialty items such as elevators cannot be
included in this calculation. Include only materials permanently installed in the project.

• Establish a project goal for recycled content materials, and identify material suppliers that can
achieve this goal.

• During construction, ensure that the specified recycled content materials are installed.

• Consider a range of environmental, economic and performance attributes when selecting products
and materials

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 Manufacturing Waste
• Reusing materials reclaimed from the same process in which they are generated—
though good practice—does not contribute toward the recycled content of the
material.

• In other words, 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);

examples are glass culls, which are often reused in the making of new glass, as well
as planer shavings, ply-trim, sawdust, chips, bagasse, seed husks, nut shells, culls,
trimmed materials, and paper from print overruns, over-issue publications,
obsolete inventories, etc.

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 Calculations
• Determine the total materials cost for the project by multiplying the total
construction cost by 0.45.
• Alternatively, the total materials cost may be a tally of actual materials cost from
the project schedule of values or a similar document.
• The benefit of using actual materials costs, as opposed to the default 45%, is that
projects with less than 45% materials cost can more easily achieve the 10% and
20% credit thresholds.
• Materials costs include all expenses to deliver the material to the project site.

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 Assembly Recycled Content
• An assembly can be either a product formulated from multiple
materials (e.g., a composite wood panel) or a product made up of
subcomponents (e.g., a window system). For assembly recycled
content values, determine the percentage by weight of the post-
consumer recycled content and the pre-consumer recycled content.

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 Calculations
• Sample Calculations for Recycled Content

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 Operations and Maintenance
• Recycled-content materials may require different maintenance
practices than conventional products.
• When specifying recycled products, request maintenance
recommendations from the manufacturer and give this information
to the operations team.
• The duplication, replacement, and repair of recycled-content
materials will be easier if information about the installed products
has been maintained.
• Encourage the creation of a sustainable purchasing plan and
provide building operators with lists of the installed products and
their manufacturers

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 Steel – Recycled Content
• For steel products where no recycled content
information is available, assume the recycled
content to be 25% post-consumer.
• No other material has been recognized as having
a similarly consistent minimum recycled content.
• Many steel products contain 90% or higher
recycled content if manufactured by the electric
arc furnace process, so it may be beneficial to
obtain actual information from the manufacturer
rather than relying on the default value.

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Recyclability of Materials

Image Source: SteelConstruction.info

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• Managing Waste
Recycling: Processing of a waste item into
usable forms.

Benefits of using recyclable materials

• -Reduce environmental degradation
• -Making money out of waste
• -Save energy that would have gone into
waste handling & product manufacture

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• Benefits of Recycling

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 Recycling not a solution to all problems!

• Recycling is not a solution to managing every kind of waste

material

• For many items recycling technologies are unavailable or unsafe

• In some cases, cost of recycling is too high.

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LOCAL MATERIALS

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 Local Materials
• To increase demand for building materials and products that are extracted and
manufactured within the region, thereby supporting the use of indigenous
resources and reducing the environmental impacts resulting from transportation.

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 Environmental Issues
• The use of regional building materials
reduces transportation activities and
associated pollution.
• Trucks, trains, ships, and other vehicles
deplete finite reserves of fossil fuels
and generate air pollution.
• It also is important to address the
source of raw materials used to
manufacture building products; some
are harvested or extracted far from the
point of manufacture, also contributing
to air and water pollution associated
with transportation.

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 Economic Issues
• The availability of regionally manufactured building materials depends on the
project location.

• In some areas, the majority of products needed for the project can be obtained
within a 400 km radius. In other areas, only a small portion or no building
materials can be sourced locally.

• However, the purchase of regional building materials is generally more cost-

effective because of reduced transportation costs.

• Also, the support of regional manufacturers and labor forces retains capital in the
community, contributing to a more stable tax base and a healthier local economy,
as well as showcases the resources and skills of the region.

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 Local Materials - Process
• Establish a project goal for locally sourced materials, and identify materials and material suppliers
that can achieve this goal.

• During construction, ensure that the specified local materials are installed, and quantify the total
percentage of local materials installed.

• Consider a range of environmental, economic and performance attributes when selecting products
and materials.

• Run preliminary calculations, as soon as a project budget is available, to set appropriate regional
materials targets.

• Architects should specify in the construction documents products that are

extracted/harvested/recovered and manufactured within 400 km and work with the general
contractor on approved alternatives.

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 Compliance Criteria
• Use building materials or products
that have been extracted, harvested
or recovered, as well as
manufactured, within 250 miles (400
km) of the project site for a
minimum of 10% or 20%, based on
cost, of the total materials value. If
only a fraction of a product or
material is extracted, harvested, or
recovered and manufactured locally,
then only that percentage (by
weight) must contribute to the Figure illustrates an example for a hypothetical slag
concrete material that is extracted, processed, and
regional value. manufactured within 400 km of a project site.

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 Calculations
• The point of manufacture is considered the place of final assembly of
components into the building product that is furnished and installed by the
trades workers.
– For example, if the hardware comes from Delhi, the lumber comes from Malabar, and the
joist is assembled in Chennai, then the location of the final assembly is Chennai.
• It may require careful research to determine what local products are
available, so evaluate this measure early in the design process.
– This can be achieved by summing the cost of all materials that are extracted and
manufactured within 400 km of the construction site.
– In cases where products and construction components are assembled on-site, the
individual components that are extracted within 400 km of the site will be counted toward
this credit.
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 Sample Calculations
Sample Assembly Percentage Regionally Extracted Calculation for Concrete

Sample Spreadsheet for Regional Materials

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 Sample Calculation
Sample Calculation for Regional Material
The total construction costs for a library
building are Rs 60,00,000. Using the default
materials calculations, the total cost of
materials excluding labor and equipment is
60,00,000x 0.45 = Rs 27,00,000.

Table lists the regional materials purchased

for the project. In this example, the cost of
regionally harvested and manufactured
products as a percentage of the total cost of
materials is 27.89%.

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Thank you

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