CI 2009 MRc7: Certified Wood

FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. Controlled Wood does not count on it's own.
| dp

Do you happen to know where I can find this information? I need this info as backup for my client . Thank you so much for your quick response.

Maory - Try this link out - it's not explicitly clear, but it does talk about controlled wood as being part of the FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. Mixed Sources label and how that works towards the bottom:
http://www.fscus.org/green_building/leed_faq.php

| DP

Thanks for the link, I read this one before. My problem is that the client has chosen a FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. Controlled Wood veneer and it seems like the consultant wants to use this towards the certified woodWood from a source that has been determined, through a certification process, to meet stated ecological and other criteria. There are numerous forest certification programs in general use based on several standards, but only the Forest Stewardship Council's standards, which include requirements that the wood be tracked through its chain-of-custody, can be used to qualify wood for a point in the LEED Rating System. credit. I am listing it, since it is a wood product, but do not want to claim it as a FSC certified product, since as far as LEED is concerned, it is not a certified wood. Or maybe I should just let it be, list it and move on?

I would think that by using any portion of it for one you are claiming it as either recycled or not. Thus this strategy may not work. I don't have specific experience with this though.

Anyone else?

If the product is recycled then it should fall under MRc4, and it does not make sense to claim any of it for MRc7. Unless I am misunderstanding FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts., how can it get a Mixed label if it is known to be recycled?

Greetings Piyush,
What version of LEED are you working under?
When did you register your project?

Under the current requirements the secondary manufacturer and the interiors contractor would need FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. COC Certification. This is both a FSC requirement as well as a LEED requirement. It sounds like you are well aware of the requirements from your question.
There is a provision where you can get COC certified for a specific project. This would greatly reduce time and cost.
I would encourage you to contact a 3rd party certification body.
I would try Rainforest Alliance, http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/ and I believe that SCS http://www.scscertified.com/nrc/fsc_chain_of_custody.php has certification bodies in India.

RE: your question regarding shipping companies. - NO the shipping company does not need to be FSC COC Certified to ship the FSC materials. However the shipper document from the COC Certified Company must list the items being shipped on a line item basis (summarized by type with qty lisetd is fine) with the FSC claim, and their COC number for each item.

Thanks Kevin, I shall follow the line of action suggested.

HI Max - What your proposing certainly seems reasonable, as long as you are uploading all of the corresponding invoices in a organized way. You might want to bundle the invoices together (or co-locate them) in a PDF when you upload. You might also consider adding a "tally" sheet listing each invoice with a dollar sub-total for common COC's and Materials. The sub-totals should match each dollar value line-item listed in the Form. This would make it easy for the reviewer to 'connect-the-dots' between the Form and your PDF. The number of 'common' invoices you have will determine if that's easier than going invoice by invoice in the official form. It's also a way of tracking the wood during construction.

If the Reviewer does want them individually line itemed in the Form, you should get a chance to do that during the first round of GBCI comments after the first submittal is made.

| dp

Steve, MRc7 is reserved for "new" wood products, to the best of my understanding. I would exclude the used furniture.

I am a woodworker so I am assuming its the same for furniture. Your furniture distributior needs to have a FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. Chain of Custody number. He creates and invoice separating the FSC furniture from the non FSC furniture. Since this is an assembly, the wood needs to be separated out from the other materials and the dollar amount or weight/volume adjusted accordingly. This is stated in a 2008 USGBC.

If the distributor does not have a FSC chain of custody number, I don't believe you can apply the wood towards the FSC credit.

Good luck!

First let me make sure that I understand your position.
- You are purchasing furniture from a distributor of FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. furniture. Correct? So they are selling you FSC Certified furniture.

If this is the case than here is the process.
You have just purchased a fabric covered chair. That chair is sold with a FSC Claim, however the entire dollar value of that chair does not count toward the MR7 Credit because you only count the new wood portion of that chair. Per the addenda & CirCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide's found on USGBC's website you would have to make an educated decision about how much of the weight of that chair is FSC wood material and how much is springs, fabric, cushioning etc. If 50% of the weight of that chair is FSC wood, than 50% of the chair cost is what you would put in your FSC column of the MR7 Credit.
You would need to include the documentation on how you arrived at the wood weight figure in your submittals to GBCI.

I would encourage you to involve the chair manufacturer as much as possible in coming to this conclusion of how much of that product is wood weight and how much is other materials.
Perhaps having a letter form the manufacturer that backs up your conclusion would be good to have.

Kevin has a good suggestion - The Manufacturers should be able to tell you about the quantity of FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. wood in the chair and have supporting information to back that up. Unless the furniture is mostly wood, the furniture piece is not likely to be an FSC Certified Assembly. Therefore, as Kevin notes, you need to split out the value of the wood from the value of the other components in the furniture.

Knoll has been a solid supporter of FSC, so they should be able to tell you what their breakout is.

Let us know how it goes!
dp

I have all the documentation from the furniture manufacturers regarding percentage (weights) of FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. wood in the various products and I have all of their FSC COC #s. Thats not my problem.

My problem is when you go to the LEED online template there is a box you need to check confirming that you have uploaded "All vendor invoices for wood products that contain FSC certified woodWood from a source that has been determined, through a certification process, to meet stated ecological and other criteria. There are numerous forest certification programs in general use based on several standards, but only the Forest Stewardship Council's standards, which include requirements that the wood be tracked through its chain-of-custody, can be used to qualify wood for a point in the LEED Rating System.."

I don't have vendor invoices for the furniture vendors that lists FSC wood as a line item. The invoice we can get from the furniture distributor would list the various furniture model numbers as a line item. For example they would say (14) Task Chairs, Model X - $2,000, (2) Conference Tables, Model Y - $3,000, etc. Those invoices wouldn't say chair made from, fabric, steel, and $200 FSC Pure wood.

Basically I have all of the FSC info from the vendors I just don't have the invoices as back up proof to upload and since LEED online (CI v2.0) requires it I am not quite sure how to proceed.

That chair that you are purchasing would have to come from a FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. Chain of Custody certified manufacturer. The manufacturer of that chair will "label" or make a Claim about the FSC Content in that chair.
The burden of figuring out the FSC content of that chair does not fall on you the end user. It should be provided clearly on shippers and invoices from your FSC COC Manufacturer, or from the vendor that is selling the chair.

Do you have an example of a chair that you are using and trying to figure out the FSC content of? Send me a link and I'll point you in the right direction.

The acceptable forms of FSC Claims for LEED are FSC-XX%, FSC Mixed Credit, or FSC Pure.
If the wood chair is sold as FSC 90% than you would calculate 90% of the cost of that wood chair as FSC and 10% as Non FSC.
For either FSC Mixed Credit or FSC Pure, you would count the entire cost of that wood chair as FSC.

thanks so much, this confirms what I thought.

The GC is basically right. Many composite lumber products contain recycled content, which is not considered "new" wood. As discussed above, new wood is not covered by this credit. However, don't let the GC over-simplify. Many substrates have a certain percentaged recycled content, but also some new content. Check the data sheets for every product.

I recently noticed in the Materials Overview section of the ID&C reference guide (note it’s not in the NCv2009 reference guide), there is a table of ‘units of measurement for materials and resources credits’ (p.233). In this table under MRc7 Certified WoodWood from a source that has been determined, through a certification process, to meet stated ecological and other criteria. There are numerous forest certification programs in general use based on several standards, but only the Forest Stewardship Council's standards, which include requirements that the wood be tracked through its chain-of-custody, can be used to qualify wood for a point in the LEED Rating System., it states “Cost New ($) – identify all wood-based materials, then exclude salvaged and refurbished material and postconsumer recycled wood fiber or portion of any products”

This call out of the postconsumer recycled wood fiber is not anywhere but in this MR Overview table – all other instances in the reference guide only say to not include wood with ‘recycled content’. However, with this explicit call out in the table, it appears as though only postconsumer recycled content is not to be included in the MRc7 wood calculations, and any wood with pre-consumer recycled content is to be included.

Historically, Only Pre-Consumer (Post-IndustrialRefers to material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process. Excluded from this category is reutilization of materials such as scrap that are generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process. Generally synonymous with "pre-consumer.") Recycled content was excluded from the FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. credit. LEED V2.1 was very explicite about only excluding salvadged, refurbished and pre-consumer recycled content.

However, NC 2.2 shifted to excluding 'recycled content' from MR7 (CI may have as well) and both the V2009 BD+C and IDC V2009 reference guides make this distinction in the MR7 Credit language. The V2009 IDC and BD+C glossaries both identify 'Recycled Content' as either post-consumerWaste material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of materials from the distribution chain (source: ISO 14021). Examples of this category include construction and demolition debris, materials collected through curbside and drop-off recycling programs, broken pallets (if from a pallet refurbishing company, not a pallet-making company), discarded products (e.g., furniture, cabinetry and decking) and urban maintenance waste (e.g., leaves, grass clippings, tree trimmings, etc.). or pre-consumer per ISO 14021.

It would appear that USGBC has conflict in their documentation. I would recommend confirming with USGBC / GBCI.
dp

We had this issue on more than one project. I have contacted USGBC and have had this issue clarified.
Here is my original email, and USGBC's Response.

kevin@montbleau.com

I am in need of some clarification on an item regarding MRc7 Certified WoodWood from a source that has been determined, through a certification process, to meet stated ecological and other criteria. There are numerous forest certification programs in general use based on several standards, but only the Forest Stewardship Council's standards, which include requirements that the wood be tracked through its chain-of-custody, can be used to qualify wood for a point in the LEED Rating System.
The area that I am looking to get cleared up is in regards to MDFMedium-density fiberboard (MDF): Panel product used in cabinets and furniture; generally made from wood fiber glued together with binder; similar to particleboard, but with finer texture, offering more precise finishing. Most MDF is made with formaldehyde-emitting urea-formaldehyde binder. and Particleboard. All MDF and Particleboard is made from ‘wood chips’ that are leftover from milling dimensional lumber i.e. 2x4’s moldings etc. These ‘wood chips’ are collected and pressed into MDF and Particle board. These boards are marketed and sold as “FSC Mixed Credit”. They also contain 100% post industrial content claim –because they are the chips ‘leftover’ from making the dimensional lumber products. We were told recently that the MDF and Particleboard cannot count towards the MRc7 Certified Wood credit because it is made up of recycled content.
I have looked over the memorandum dated April 7, 2008 titled “Revised Requirements for Documenting the Use of FSC Certified Wood in LEED”as well as reviewed the CIR’s for this credit, but have not found a satisfactory line drawn regarding this.
The area of confusion seems to stem from the third paragraph in the memorandum stating that “wood products identified as “FSC Recycled” or “FSC Recycled Credit” do not count toward certified wood credits. They qualify instead as recycled content products”
Can USGBC please give a clear definition on products such as MDF and Particleboard that are sold with a recycled content claim and a FSC Pure, FSC Mixed Credit, or FSC % Mixed Credit claim type.
It is my understanding that even thought these types of products are made up of post industrial recycled content, the fact that they are sold as “FSC Mixed Credit” would allow these products to be applied towards either the MRc4.1 /4.2. or the MRc7 credit. This would be up to the discretion of the LEED AP for the project. However if any such materials are included in one credit, all such materials must be included in the calculation, and applied to the same credit (i.e. you can’t apply some MDF to MRc4, and some to MRc7)
I am happy to submit this as a CIR, however I am not on any project currently. Can I still pay the $220 and have this CIR submitted?

Kevin Mortensen
Chief Sustainability Officer
619-847-0419
kevin@montbleau.com
www.montbleau.com

USGBC's RESPONSE
Dear Kevin,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding LEED 2009 Green Building & Construction: MRc7. We apologize for the delay as we are experiencing high technical email volumes.

As stated on page 397 of the LEED 2009 Green Building Design & Construction Reference Guide:

"Wood products that are not FSC certified and those that are identified on invoices as FSC Pure and FSC Mixed Credit should be valued at 100% of the product cost. Wood products identified as FSC Mixed (NN%) should be valued at the indicated percentage of their cost.
Wood products identified as FSC Recycled or FSC Recycled Credit do not count toward MR Credit 7, Certified Wood. They qualify instead as recycled-content products that may contribute to MR Credit 4, Recycled Content."

Due to the FSC's "credit" system, some FSC Mixed Credit products may contain some portion of 'recycled' content. However, it is not always feasible to determine the exact percentage of recycled content in all such products. Therefore, the principle to be used is simply that such products cannot count towards both credits, MRc4 & MRc7. If MDF and particleboard products are made from recycled wood scraps but are stated as being FSC Mixed (not FSC Recycled) the products can count toward MRc7 or MRc4, but cannot count toward both. During the design phase, the architect should incorporate certified wood products into the project plans and specifications. During construction, the contractor should review the project cost to verify that 50% of wood costs are FSC-certified. At this time it could be determined what credit the MDF and particleboard would best fit and meet the LEED Materials & Resources credit goals for the project.

You can access more information on FSC designations and Chain of Custody certification requirements at their webpage: www.fscus.org.

We trust this will help you with your process and thank you for your interest in LEED Rating Systems.

If you have any other questions about LEED, please feel free to contact us via the USGBC contact page: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2043.

Sincerely,

USGBC Technical Customer Service
U.S. Green Building Council
2101 L St. NW • Suite 500
Washington DC 20037
800.795.1747 • fax 202.828.5110
WWW.USGBC.ORG

By The Way. I am the FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. Coordinator for a large millwork and design firm in San Diego, CA. If anyone ever has any questions regarding MRc7 and /or FSC items, please don't hesitate to contact me and I will help you out.

Hi Kevin - Thanks for the offer to answer questions!....And of course I have a question for you that as part of the millwork industry, you might be able to answer. Here's the context for my question:

It is my understanding that originally MDO / Particleboard was developed to use available mill off-fall and scrape, but that the popularity of the products exceeded the availability of recycled content and 'new' timber started being used to meet demand.

Here in Minnesota, 'quaking aspen' are grow to to support particleboard / MDO / pulp production. The wood industry appears to be very integrated and purposeful in growing 'Roundwood' (the industry term for this type of timber) for particleboards / MDO and paper. This begs the question of whether the material is truly 'recycled' since the trees (previously consider weed trees) are of limited value in 'stick' form (other than shipping pallets and other low-value, small products) and are valued most as feedstock for 'pulped' fiber.

Personally I think the content of (at least some) Minnesota made particleboards / MDO wood fiber might actually fit better in the rapidly renewableTerm describing a natural material that is grown and harvested on a relatively short-rotation cycle (defined by the LEED rating system to be ten years or less). category credit than in the recycled category - aspen grows quickly and I believe it meets the Rapidly Renewable definition of a 10 year life cycle.

Here's are my question(s): Would you know what the industry has indentified as an average ratio of recycled content and new wood for MDO / particle boards (i.e. the steel industry has an industry average calculated for recycled content in structural steel)? AND do you know how the Particleboard / MDO industry defines their 'Recycled' content?

Best,
Doug

Thank you for sharing Kevin! This is helpful.

Doug - I do not believe that the composite panel industry has a "standard" recycled content amount. As you point out some manufacturers will use new wood to produce MDFMedium-density fiberboard (MDF): Panel product used in cabinets and furniture; generally made from wood fiber glued together with binder; similar to particleboard, but with finer texture, offering more precise finishing. Most MDF is made with formaldehyde-emitting urea-formaldehyde binder. and Particleboard, if / when the fall off material is not available. There is an organization entitled "The Composite Panel Association" http://www.pbmdf.com/ that you could try contacting regarding that question. When we are trying to find out the recycled content of a product, we have found that using the material cut sheets are the most accurate way to do this. Here are 2 examples of composite panels fabricated by Sierra Pine http://www.sierrapine.com/Media/ArreisSpecJuly10FINAL2.pdf
http://www.sierrapine.com/Media/Encore3MillSpec042508FINAL.pdf
You'll see that with this company you have an ordering option (If your purchasing an entire run) of what type of materials you want in your particleboard. It can have recycled content, as well as FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts. certified materials. It's up to the purchaser what they want.

Regarding 'how' they define their recycled content. Most reputable companies will have their recycled content 'certified'. Again I reference sierra Pine, you can submit a request from them and they will send you a copy of their SCS- Certificate that states the minimum recycled content that each panel has. In Sierra Pines case, ALL panels have a minimum of 88% Pre Consumer recycled content (so states their certificate). I hope this helps.

Thanks Kevin - Sierra Pine has a strong reputation in this area and getting an SCS certification for recycled content creates clarity and confidence in their published numbers.

I'm intrigued by the state of the broader composite woodComposite wood consists of wood or plant particles or fibers bonded by a synthetic resin or binder. Examples include particleboard, medium-density fiberboard (MDF), plywood, oriented-strand board (OSB), wheatboard, and strawboard. industry; what the statistics are and what their approach to defining recycled content is...I pointed to the steel industry in my post above because they provide national averages on steel content (for different product types) and these are very helpful early in the design process when we are trying to do LEED Forecasting with really limited detail about the final project specs and suppliers.

We run into lots of indvidual manfacturers (in a range of industries) that don't understand what actually qualifies as pre-consumer recycled content (as you know, picking up spillage or virgin materials off the factory floor doesn't actually qualify as recycled). Those folks sometimes end up publishing recycled content numbers that don't actually qualify for earning the MR 4 credit in the end. Having industry averages can be beneficial in qualifying manufacture claims.

Best Regards,
Doug

Bamboo is not considered a wood (it is technically a grass and falls under MRc6: Rapidly Renewable Materials. So you don't have to count it for this credit.

However, if you can get an FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts.-certified source (and there are some out there), then you have the option of including it here, which would be to your advantage.

Emily, this is a case where you have the choice to include or not include those things, but whatever you choose, you must be consistent for all purchases. That way, your method of accounting doesn't really work for or against you in terms of the credit.