January 2022
LEED v3 Material Resources (MR) MR Credit 4 Recycled Content Applicable Credits:
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a U.S. Green Building Council program which includes a voluntary rating system intended to rate a building’s performance and long term sustainability. LEED v3 rates an entire project on an overall scale. It assigns credits or points for achievement in a wide variety of categories. This letter specifically addresses LEED v3, Materials & Resources Credit 4: Recycled Content, which has the following credits/points available:

LEED v3 Credits:	Max points	Steelscape Support	
MR Credit 4 – Recycled Content. 10% (1 point)
and 20% (2 points)	
2	Partial credit can be applied to steel products. Steel Recycled Content Value = (Value of Steel Product) (Post-Consumer recycled content %+ ½ pre consumer recycled content %).	

The information contained in the enclosed October 2012 Steel Recycling Institute Publication Steel Takes LEED® with Recycled Content provides post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled content percentages for North American steel building products and is considered acceptable documentation by the USGBC LEEDv3 rating system and green codes and standards.

Steelscape produces steel made from a Basic Oxygen Furnace facility (BOF). As per the Steel Recycling Institute publication, steel made from a BOF facility contains an average post-consumer recycled content of 19.8% and an average pre-consumer recycled content of 14.4%. The total steel recycled content value under LEED for steel manufactured from a BOF is 27% (19.8% post- consumer + (½ x 14.4% pre-consumer)).

Upon request at the time of quotation, Steelscape can purchase steel made from an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) if your project requires a high-recycled content. As per the Steel Recycling Institute publication, steel made in an EAF facility contains an average post-consumer recycled content of 69% and an average pre-consumer recycled content of 19.5%. The total steel recycled content value under LEED for steel manufactured from an EAF is 78.8% (69% post-consumer + (½ x 19.5% pre-consumer)).

Sheet steel supplied from mills located in the Western U.S. does not meet the 500-mile requirement for extracting or harvesting of raw materials. There are no mining operations in the Western U.S. nor are there any steel melting/scrap recycling facilities capable of making sheet steel west of St. Louis, Missouri.

Please note that the guidance in this bulletin relates to LEED v3 (also known as LEED 2009). Please refer to the separate LEED v4 or v4.1 bulletin for guidance as it relates to the newer standards.