Unilock Updates Recycled Materials Calculations

Over the last few years, while the construction industry saw a slow-down, Unilock saw a significant increase in designers and owners requesting information on products using recycled and regional materials. The company recently recalculated its recycled material to follow the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard for supplementary cementitious materials (SCM).

Using the LEED Materials and Resources credit 4 Recycled Content formula for calculating the SCM, Unilock found the following results:

• Standard, tumbled and retaining wall products: 35% recycled content; • EnduraColor and EnduraColor Plus pavers: 34.3% recycled content; and • TX Active photocatalytic pavers: 30% recycled content.

Unilock products are manufactured using slag as a Portland cement replacement in all of its paver lines and retaining wall products. Slag qualifies as pre-consumer content for LEED projects and can help contribute to the overall recycled material credit. Additionally, slag cement is a byproduct of steel production, unlike other commonly used cement replacements such as fly ash, which is a byproduct from burning coal to create electricity.

Unilock products can contribute to other LEED credits as well. For Materials and Resources credit 5 Regional Materials, the percentages ranged from 81.6% to 99.3%. The raw materials used in Unilock products are within 500 miles of Unilock Chicago. The qualifying raw materials furthest from the Unilock Chicago’s Aurora, Ill., facility are from within 55 miles. For the LEED Sustainable Sites credit 7.1 Heat Island Effect-Non Roof, Unilock has tested and obtained results with 22 colors that meet or exceed the 29 or greater Solar Reflectance Index requirement. There are also two additional credits available in the Sustainable Sites sections 6.1 and 6.2 for storm water design.

Source: Unilock