Reusing salvaged metal beams within the new project directly contributes to the Materials Reuse option because the recovered components become part of the completed building. The project can document their qualifying value or quantity and demonstrate that the reuse avoids the production and purchase of equivalent new structural materials. Donating wood and selling bricks may provide valuable off-site waste diversion and circular-economy benefits, but those materials are not incorporated into the LEED project itself and therefore do not satisfy the project’s materials-reuse calculation in the same manner. Structural steel reuse can preserve substantial embodied energy and carbon because producing new steel requires raw-material extraction, processing, and high-temperature manufacturing. This strategy supports LEED v5’s emphasis on responsible resource use and embodied-emissions reduction.
