Archive for MR
FSC Certification: Forester Commitment to Social Responsibility
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Most people now what the Forest Stewardship Council does and why it is in existence, but I was curious about the specifics of what steps a forester must take become certified. I decided to do some research and turned up some impressively stringent criteria.
Briefly, there are 10 principles and 56 criteria to which a lumber harvester must adhere and an audit is performed by a certifying agency to ensure the same. The 10 principles act as divisions for each of the criteria and they range from a forest management plan, to indigenous people’s rights to ecological preservation.
The real interesting points come up in the 56 criteria. Clearly, the FSC’s commitment to forestry and ecological management is impressive, but their social responsibility mandate is equally important.
Here are the 3 social criteria I found most notable:
- Indigenous peoples shall control forest management on their lands and territories
unless they delegate control with free and informed consent to other agencies.
- Management planning and operations shall incorporate the results of evaluations of
social impact. Consultations shall be maintained with people and groups (both men
and women) directly affected by management operations.
- Sites of special cultural, ecological, economic or religious significance to indigenous
peoples shall be clearly identified in cooperation with such peoples, and recognized
and protected by forest managers.
If you would like to read the full list of principles and criteria, you can download it here.
Using Furniture To Achieve MR Credits in NC 2.2
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Accounting for (and getting credit for) refurbished, recycled or otherwise ‘green’ furniture in material reuse calculations is one of the most simply explained, and often confused, components of the MR credit division.
Simply put, the furniture must be consistently applied in all calculations in MR 3-7. Which is to say there are areas where you will realize a gain in percentage and areas where have a loss in percentage.  To make things more clear, I’ll run through each credit in MR 3-7 using a refurbished/recycled, traditional-material product (with no rapidly renewable or FSC-certified components) and a new, ‘green’ product toward the calculation.
MR 3.1 & 3.2 - Use salvaged, refurbished, or reused materials such that the sum of these materials contains at least 5% (for 3.1) or 10% (for 3.2), based on cost, of the total value of materials on the project.  A refurbished/recycled product will result in an increase of the percentage, while a new ‘green’ product will result in a reduction.
MR 4.1 & 4.2 - Use materials with recycled content such that the sum of post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at least 10% (for 4.1) or 20% for (4.2), based on cost, of the total value of the materials in the project. Both furniture product types should yield an increase in percentage.
MR 5.1 & 5.2 - Use building materials or products that have been extracted, harvest or removed as well as manufactured within 500 miles of the projects site for a at least 10% (for 5.1) or 20% (for 5.2), based on cost, of the total material value. Provided at the furniture is selected and purchased properly, both the new and refurbished furniture should result in an increase in the percentage. Considerations would be the distance to the manufacturer and the percentage of furniture cost that can be counted under this credit.
MR 6 - Use rapidly renewable materials and products (made from plants that are typically harvested within a ten year cycle or shorter) for 2.5% of the total value of all building materials and products used in the project, based on cost. The refurbished/recycled product will bring this percentage down. Provided that the new ‘green’ product is composed of more than 50% rapidly renewable materials, it will increase this the calculated percentage.
MR 7 - Use a minimum of 50% wood-based materials and products, which are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, for wood building components. Given that the refurbished product we’re using in this example has no FSC-certified components, it would reduce this percentage. Provided that the new ‘green’ furniture is composed of more FSC-certified wood than non-certified, it would increase the percentage.
You may have thought of this already, but the ideal product to use may actually be a refurbished/recycled AND ‘green’ furniture product. But, its availability in the marketplace today is somewhat scarce.
Any questions?
