LEED Green Associate: The Crucial Role in Diverting and Recycling Solid Waste

Recycling is a crucial process in our modern world, playing a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting a more sustainable future. This process involves several key steps: collection, sorting, reprocessing, marketing, and reuse.

At its core, recycling is the process of collecting, reprocessing, marketing, and using materials diverted or recovered from the solid waste stream. This not only reduces the need for virgin raw materials in manufacturing but also conserves natural resources.

One of the primary intentions of the Materials and Resources category in the LEED Green Associate Candidate Handbook is to reduce waste through recycling during construction and occupancy. This extends to building material reuse, which involves using salvaged or surplus materials in new construction projects, reducing the demand for new materials and minimizing waste.

Recycling offers numerous benefits. It saves energy, as the process of manufacturing products from recycled materials typically uses less energy than producing goods from virgin materials. Moreover, recycling aims to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills or incinerators by repurposing materials, thereby extending the life of our landfills and reducing the environmental impact of waste disposal.

The term used for the process of collecting, processing, marketing, and using materials derived from waste streams or recovered materials is known as a "circular economy" or "Kreislaufwirtschaft" in German. This encompasses all phases of value creation to keep materials and resources in use as long as possible and minimize waste.

To ensure the materials used in recycling come from responsible sources, the term "chain-of-custody" is often used. This refers to the documentation that tracks the movement of materials from their origin to their final destination, providing transparency and accountability in the recycling process.

In conclusion, recycling is a vital tool in our fight against climate change and a key component in creating a more sustainable future. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving natural resources, and promoting the circular economy, recycling offers numerous benefits that make it an essential part of our everyday lives.