For businesses and building owners, pursuing certification can feel daunting. But the good news is that two of the best-known rating systems–TRUE Zero Waste and LEED–can work hand-in-hand.
Working toward one can accelerate progress in the other. And often, the steps you are already taking to improve your waste program—such as conducting waste audits, providing employee education and improving waste collection infrastructure—can now help you meet both TRUE and LEED goals at once.
By aligning your waste program with TRUE and LEED, you can achieve a more comprehensive approach to sustainability that reduces waste costs and improves performance.
Here are 3 ways TRUE and LEED intersect.
#1 Using LEED credits for TRUE
Pursuing LEED Materials and Resources (MR) credits can help support TRUE certification requirements. You can earn LEED credit points for waste diversion strategies such as conducting a zero waste audit and developing an inventory of waste collection infrastructure, providing education, or starting or expanding an organics program. In many cases, these actions overlap, allowing project teams to leverage progress on one certification for the other.
#2 Using TRUE Certification to Support LEED O+M
According to the USGBC, TRUE certification can be used to document waste-related LEED credits if the scope of the project matches a LEED Operations and Maintenance (O+M) project. A final TRUE review report can serve as documentation to demonstrate specific credit achievement for LEED.
#3 LEED v5 Requires Zero Waste Planning
With LEED v5, projects must now develop comprehensive zero waste plans that address waste prevention, reduction and ongoing waste management strategies. The emphasis is on long-term planning for zero waste to minimize waste generation throughout a project’s lifecycle.
For new construction, projects must incorporate zero waste building operations. Teams must provide detailed plans, maintenance manuals, and resources to ensure that their buildings are designed with waste in mind. In addition, organizations must now plan for organics and food waste diversion.
These credit options are some of the building blocks for TRUE Zero Waste certification.
Photo: Nastuh Abootalebi, Unsplashed
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