PlanetReuse Lists Its Lines of Reclaimed Building Materials on GreenWizard

To Advance Sustainable Building and LEED Credits, PlanetReuse Partners with GreenWizard to Provide Comprehensive Online Source for Reclaimed, FSC, & Excess New Building Materials

PRESS RELEASE:
Charleston, SC – September 1, 2010 – GreenWizard, Inc., the largest collection of green building product data for intelligent material selection, and PlanetReuse, a consulting-and-brokering company focused on reclaimed, FSC, and excess new building materials, have formed a new alliance that makes reclaimed building materials even more accessible to architects, engineers, and contractors (AEC) focused on LEED credits and green-and-sustainable building.

Initially, PlanetReuse will list 20+ categories of reclaimed and excess new building products in GreenWizard’s database.  A product specifier can request a product by category (e.g. wood, flooring, furniture, doors, etc.), and enter in their project location.  With that information, the team at PlanetReuse will source the product from its regional inventory or actively search for the desired product in current demolition and salvage projects. The quality and quantity of the reclaimed products are assured by PlanetReuse.

PlanetReuse prefers to engage AEC firms, owners, and contractors during the design-and-preconstruction phases, because that’s the way to maximize LEED credits through local use, which takes advanced planning.  PlanetReuse works at no cost to the design team during the design phase on projects, and its minimal brokering fee is included when materials are delivered to the new project, so PlanetReuse’s service is essentially free-of-charge.  With planning, PlanetReuse clients typically obtain reused products for less than the cost of new.

“Only 6 to 8% of LEED-certified projects have ever obtained the LEED Materials Reuse credits, MRc3.1 or MRc3.2, which require that 5%-10% of materials have been installed previously,” explains Nathan Benjamin, PlanetReuse’s Principal + Founder.  “We believe we can drive that number significantly higher.  After all, it’s a relatively easy LEED credit to obtain when working through the process with partners like PlanetReuse and Green Wizard.”

“AEC firms are not adverse to using reclaimed materials, if they are quality- and quantity-assured,” explains GreenWizard’s Adam Bernholz.  “Now, with PlanetReuse, those firms finally have a viable alternative materials source.”

About PlanetReuse

If you make using reclaimed material reuse easier, more people will do it.  This simple but revolutionary goal drove the founders of PlanetReuse to create a new kind of company. Frustrated by the time and resources it took to track down salvaged materials for their own commercial projects, the PlanetReuse team took an entrepreneurial leap to uncover a solution for the entire built industry.

Initially an internet-based e-commerce material website, PlanetReuse has evolved into a consulting-and-brokering company focused on providing the insight, experience, and materials its clients need.  With a well-defined and efficient process, PlanetReuse expertly matches materials with designers, builders, and owners to save projects money, serve LEED efforts, and sustain the planet. Under the leadership of founder Nathan Benjamin, the company has grown 300 percent in the last year. Learn more: www.PlanetReuse.com

About GreenWizard

GreenWizard Inc. is a technology company offering the most comprehensive web-based software platform for green building materials from thousands of manufacturers. GreenWizard’s WORKflow Pro software is the only data-driven workflow solution helping the design and construction community by putting search, compare, purchase, and LEED documentation capabilities at their fingertips. MARKET Pro software is the only data-driven marketing solution that brings green building products face to face with decision makers in the design and construction community actively engaged in projects.  The Company employs a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) software model delivered over the Internet for its process automation tool, communication center, business analytics, and interactive marketplace. Combined, this platform allows project participants to efficiently navigate the most comprehensive and up-to-date database of green building products, utilizing the most advanced analytical tools and information available in the market. The Charleston, SC-based company was founded in 2008.  More info: www.GreenWizard.com.

Summer Opportunities - July Flyer '10

Looking for options on your project where you can save money and divert materials from landfills?  There are some great reclaimed, excess new and FSC options from great sources throughout North America in our latest PlanetReuse flyer.  The latest summary contains some innovative materials and a lot of great deals.  Here are just a couple:

Granite Pavers/Brick made from excess/discarded granite scrap  - Perfect for commercial and residential installations, these brick cut from scrap granite countertop material are perfect for walkways, countertops, backsplashes, flooring, sidewalks, etc.  Sustainable and durable solutions with great color selection, thickness options, and variety of finishes

Excess New CFL Lightolier Fixtures - 50% less than the price of new.  Canceled project with single and dual-lamp fixtures still in original boxes available immediately.  There are 350 of each type - excellent opportunity to save money!



To check out the latest flyer, click here.

Don't see what you are looking for?  Just let us know what you are looking for and we'll find it for you.

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What’s the Difference? Clarifying the Terminology Used for Wood - SP'10 - Newsletter

While it’s the most common reclaimed material, the terminology used to define wood for sustainable projects is among the most confusing. While many wood terms have been used interchangeably, the differences can make a significant difference a project’s ability to obtain valuable LEED credits.

To qualify for MR Credit 3 Materials Reuse, your material must have been previously used. Wood from buildings count, of course, but it can also be reclaimed or salvaged from bridges, telephone poles, street pavers, ocean boardwalks or another definable function. Wherever it came from, it must have been used prior to your project’s installation to qualify.

River reclaimed materials—like sinker cypress—may be harvested from sunken trees that are several hundred years old. Though this wood often offers incredible beauty and reduces environmental impact, unfortunately these materials don’t qualify for Materials Reuse credits.

The same goes for urban reclaimed materials, which typically refers to urban growth trees removed for development. While these materials may qualify for the Regional Materials credits, they don’t meet the criteria for Materials Reuse or Certified Wood.

While reclaimed materials can legitimately carry a claim of FSC Recycled or FSC Reclaimed, these materials cannot qualify for the Certified Wood credit 7, since only new, permanently installed wood applies. However, if you empower the use of reclaimed materials on your project, they can actually help with the Certified Wood credit, as reclaimed materials are not counted towards the overall wood cost calculation.

Some also claim that reclaimed materials can count for MR Credit 4 Recycled Content, but today this is not applicable under previous or current GBCI and LEED Standards.

As a rule of thumb, if materials are applied towards the Materials Reuse credit, they cannot qualify for MR credits 1 Building Reuse, 2 Construction Waste Management, 4 Recycled Content, 6 Rapidly Renewable Materials or 7 Certified Wood (anything other than Materials Reuse and Regional Materials). And even when some materials found on an existing site are used on a new project, those materials may not always qualify for the Material Reuse credit depending upon the material, the prior use and the new use.

It seems complicated, and it can be. That’s why PlanetReuse is there, to share their in-depth knowledge and experience with these requirements in order to maximize the credits your project can receive at the lowest possible cost.

FSC & Copenhagen '09.

One month ago, Copenhagen, Denmark was a flurry of activity with the United Nations climate negotiations (COP 15) taking place. For the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), deforestation and forest degradation were certainly on the agenda. As both cause, "nearly 20% of all global greenhouse gas emissions - more than are produced by all forms of transportation combined," they needed to be addressed in the UN's draft plan for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). The REDD plan sets the stepping-stone goal of cutting deforestation in poor countries in half by the year 2020 and the ultimate goal of completely ending it by 2030. The FSC is the, "most appropriate and proven tool to safeguard social concerns such as tenure rights and community benefits, as well as for addressing environmental issues such as protection of old-growth forests and rare species." The importance of becoming FSC Chain-of-Custody (COC) certified are as follows.

"While consumers already select forest products based on species, grade, visual characteristics, etc., they now can identify products that provide an assurance of social and environmental responsibility on the part of the producer. To do this, the FSC system requires that material be tracked from the certified source through the manufacturing process. This aspect of the system is the basis for any credible certification system and is the link between consumer preference and responsible, on the ground performance."

On projects you are working on, PlanetReuse can help with FSC options. For our COC certificate detail, click here!

Is FSC enough?

Recently, I decided I really needed to do my homework and dig into what FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified wood really is. The answer I got was disappointing to say the least.

While I respect what FSC is trying to accomplish, I learned that there are still not sufficient sustainable logging practices taking place throughout this certification. What is even more alarming is what it takes to become FSC CoC (Chain of Custody) certified.

Essentially, the FSC applicant pays a fee (considerable in amount) to engage the certification body to "audit" the company. This basically is to analyze the company's practices from operations to supplier's and so on. Where this gets a little blurry is that the lumber company for example now has to receive a CoC certification. What this means is that they have to show documentation tracing back the logs from where they were forested to show that they were "sustainably" harvested.

So I dug a little deeper to see what sustainably harvested meant and was forwarded here. And after much digging finally ended up finding the document which outlines recommendations for sustainable harvesting here.

Here is where I jump off the FSC bandwagon.

After reviewing the documents they outline a series of reforestation practices, planting planning and so on to promote sustainable forestry. However, they also get into how not to "disturb the indigenous peoples through logging" which sent up a "hey whats that?" flag in my mind.

The last indigenous people I knew of in North America were the Native American Indians. But wait....

According to FSC requirements, you can log in Africa, China, Russia and Peru. Then ship the logs to be milled in plants in Mexico, China and India and then finally shipped here to the states. Whaa?

Whats the carbon footprint for that 2x4??

I was really expecting to see local harvesting promoted, if not a standardized practice such as mulching roots of cut trees to replenish the exact nutrients in the soil new trees need. Or how to selectively cut trees to maintain shade and soil protection as opposed to allowing "controlled clear cutting so long as the eco-system is not changed" All in all I was a little put back by FSC's requirements.

Enough griping, now I would like to challenge the Forestry Stewardship Council to reform their protocols and drastically increase the sustainability of the forestry practices currently written into its standards by the following:

Jobs - If FSC is truly trying to promote sustained job growth then I believe some in our current US economy would really appreciate a job at a mill in Atlanta or Florida sustainably harvesting our current supply of trees.

Fuel Conservation/Pollution - The fact is that Stewardship is cyclical. Stewardship regards all costs and activities to determine its sustainability. Thus the same old way of exporting and importing wood just won't work anymore... so change it. If that means the CEO won't get any FSC certified zebra wood for his desk so be it....maybe he can find reclaimed huh?

Global Standards - Great start, just not enough. I recently heard how the treeline in Canada isn't getting as cold as it used to. So the tree ravaging insects that otherwise would have their populations controlled by freezing temperatures are now thriving. This is resulting in complete forest systems being wiped out. The world isn't waiting, change faster.

I don't want this to seem like a rant on FSC wood however, if you're going to reform an industry you can't do it by making it easy or even remotely possible by doing the same old practices as before with some minor revisions.