Archive for January, 2024
LEED v5 for O+M: Existing Buildings (Beta Version)
Posted on January 30, 2024LEED v5 for O+M: Existing Buildings (Beta Version) shows promise in addressing some of the hard(er)-to-recover materials in demolition, renovation, and remodeling projects. Materials like carpet, acoustical ceiling tile, furniture, and gypsum wallboard/drywall tend to have higher embodied-carbon ratings, so incentivizing their pathway into closed-loop product take-back manufacturing systems makes sense.
Looking at it from an operational perspective, removing these materials from the C&D materials stream could mean that the typical Mixed/Commingled C&D operation will have less hard-to-recover materials to process, sort, and eventually dispose of in landfills. Spending less time sorting low/no value materials should be a good thing, right?
Does this make up for the reduction in easy-to-recover materials (which have become increasingly source separated) being sent to Mixed/Commingled C&D operations? It depends. But it is still a benefit. Moreover, for us and others who watch these moves, it serves as another signal that the world of materials management and the policies that shape it are always in transition.
We look forward to seeing the full LEED v5 for Materials & Resources. https://www.usgbc.org/resources/leed-v5-operations-and-maintenance-existing-buildings-draft
Welcome to 2024 and Our New Certified Facilities
Posted on January 11, 2024Welcome to 2024
How was 2023? Not great, but fairly good, all things considered. Some facilities struggled, which is not unusual in this industry. Most would agree C&D recycling is often challenging, sometimes exciting, but you would be hard pressed to find anyone walking around saying how easy it is. On a positive note, many of the facilities with whom we interacted the past year were optimistically exploring growth opportunities, especially related to third-party certification, and solidifying or growing their customer bases.
Furthering the positive trend, RCI brought two new Certified Facilities onboard. Welcome Mount Materials (Morrisville, PA) and ReSource Waste Services of Lewiston (Lewiston, ME). Congratulations to you both on your Certifications!
We are excited about our own growth opportunities with additional facilities becoming registered and working toward certification. We believe there are some positive moves being made within the industry that are leading to a greater interest in third-party certification.
The past couple of years RCI has been working to shift the dialogue on C&D recycling rates. Instead of focusing on high C&D recycling rates, there should be more of a focus on high performance C&D recycling. While these two things are not mutually exclusive, our experience is that focusing on the former can be more problematic than focusing on the latter. The increased interest in the topic and a slight shift in the direction of high-performance recycling is promising, but there is still a long way to go. Some may see this concept as controversial, but it makes more sense when you take a holistic look at the C&D recycling landscape. To be sure, RCI supports high recovery rates, but it is a complicated issue when you look behind the numbers. Look for more information on this topic in a future update.
We would like to extend a huge Thank You to our current Certified and Registered Facilities who continue to support third-party certification. We look forward to working with you and the growing group of facilities interested in becoming certified in 2024.
Have a great year!
