The State of Minnesota
Sustainable Building Guidelines (MSBG) Version 2.0

M.2 Evaluation of Environmentally Preferable Materials

Intent
To encourage the use of materials and products that have specific properties intended to improve life cycle performance.

Required Performance Criteria
A. Evaluate materials with environmentally preferable properties and document the extent of their application in Form P-6 Materials and Waste Documentation. Materials and products which have more than one recommended characteristic will, in most cases, provide higher cumulative benefits than those with only one characteristic.

Material properties to be documented:

• Salvaged or reused materials
• Recycled content beyond normal practice
• Locally/regionally produced and manufactured
• Renewable, bio-based materials
• Appropriate durability for service life
• Materials made from reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable resources.
• Designed for disassembly or deconstruction
• Reduce material use and waste by modular use of materials, simplified design and detailing.

Recommended Performance Criteria
Evaluation targets:
B. Use salvaged or reused materials for 5% of the total materials used in the project.

C. Use materials that contain, in aggregate, a minimum weighted average of 20% post-consumer recycled content material, OR, a minimum weighted average of 50% post-industrial recycled content material. These percentages will be increased over time to meet an eventual goal of zero waste.

D. Use materials manufactured regionally within a radius of 250 miles of project site to specified qualifications, or are manufactured within the State of Minnesota and contain products from state-sponsored, approved, or acknowledged recycling programs.

E. Use renewable, bio-based raw materials for 5% of the total value of all products used in the project. Qualifying materials must be either: (a) residues from the processing of renewable, bio-based materials; OR (b) grown or harvested under a recognized sustainable management system. Programs that do not require third-party certification may be included. At a minimum, the management system must be subject to audit by the authority responsible for the system.

F. Use materials with appropriate durability for service life. In many cases, State buildings are intended to have a 50-100 year service life for the structure and envelope.

G. Use materials made from reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable resources

H. If you are pursuing LEED certification or following other guidelines and standards in addition to these, provide any detailed volume and cost information as required by those guidelines.

Note: Portions of this guideline are adapted from LEED Version 2.0.