LEED v4 Waste Management Credits

The USGBC website states that one benefit of LEED v4 is “an expanded focus on materials—in addition to considering the usage of materials in buildings, it integrates a comprehensive approach to evaluate the impact of materials on human health and the environment.” The Materials and Resource credits address all the strategies in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s solid waste management hierarchy: reduction, reuse, recycling and waste to energy. Leed has five project types, and each one has different credits for waste management, as shown in the following table.