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Executive Order 13423 Technical Guidance - Recycled Content

General Principles and Commitments

For EPA-designated products, use products meeting or exceeding EPA's recycled content recommendations. For other products, use materials with recycled content such that the sum of post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at least 10% (based on cost) of the total value of the materials in the project.

Technical Guidance

Introduction

Today, more and more building products are made from recycled materials—from carpeting to insulation. Buying recycled helps "close the recycling loop" by putting the materials we collect through recycling programs back to good use as products in the marketplace.

Green building rating systems often include credit for materials of recycled content and may distinguish allowable credit for post-consumer and post-industrial (or pre-consumer) recycled content. USGBC-LEED™ v2.2, for example, factors 100 percent of post-consumer recycled content but only 50 percent of pre-consumer (post-industrial) recycled content into calculations for its recycled content materials credit. LEED™ v2.2 grants one credit to a project for using materials with recycled content such that the sum of post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the post-industrial content constitutes at least 10 percent of the total value of the materials in the project; 10% (post-consumer + 1/2 post-industrial). It grants an additional point for 20% (post-consumer + 1/2 post-industrial). Green Globes US also provides points for reused building materials and components and for building materials with recycled content.

Recycled content is typically determined by calculating the weight of the recycled material divided by the total weight of the product and expressed as a percentage by weight. (The recycled content "value" of a product as assessed under LEED is determined by multiplying the recycled content percentage and the cost of the product.)

Within your agency, ensure processes exist to review all draft building construction and renovation documents for opportunities to use recycled—content products, and that these product requirements are clearly written into specifications. The Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers provides model guide spec language to assist agencies in meeting these requirements.

Related Mandates

Additional Considerations

Storage and Collection of Recyclables

Assure adequate indoor and outdoor collection and storage space is provided for recycling.

Major Resources

WBDG

Design Objectives

Sustainable—Use Environmentally Preferable Products

Model Contract and Specification Language

Other

EO 13423 Technical Guidance
WBDG Services Construction Criteria Base