v1.4.1Last reviewed October 2026

Waste Stream Emissions

Q: How are wastewater emissions calculated?

With a dedicated model. Methane comes from the organic load (BOD for domestic, COD for industrial) times the maximum methane potential B0 (0.6 per kg BOD or 0.25 per kg COD) and a methane correction factor set by the treatment system, from 0 for a well-managed aerobic plant to 0.8 for an anaerobic reactor. A separate nitrogen term produces N2O from effluent nitrogen at 0.005 kg N2O-N per kg N. For high-strength effluent treated anaerobically, wastewater methane can be the largest single line in the waste inventory.

Q: What is the difference between BOD and COD, and why does it matter for the calculation?

Both measure the organic load in wastewater on different bases: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is the conventional domestic basis; chemical oxygen demand (COD) is the conventional industrial basis and generally larger for the same effluent. The maximum methane potential differs: 0.6 kg CH4 per kg BOD but 0.25 per kg COD, so you must pair B0 to the measurement basis. Applying the BOD B0 to a COD-measured load, or vice versa, produces an error of roughly 2.4 times.

Q: Can I use one degradable-organic-carbon value for mixed waste?

No, there is no aggregate DOC value in the dataset by design. Degradable organic carbon is defined per component: food 0.15, garden 0.20, paper and cardboard 0.40, wood 0.43, textiles 0.24, inert 0. For a mixed stream you weight the per-component values by your waste composition using the IPCC weighting relation, producing a bulk DOC specific to that mix. Guessing a single blended figure is a common and material error, because the bulk DOC depends on how much of the stream is high-carbon paper and wood versus low-carbon inert material.

Waste stream emissions methodology, Scope 3 Category 5. A stream's carbon is set by composition: degradable organic carbon drives landfill methane via first-order decay; fossil-carbon fraction drives counted incineration CO2. Worked example: 22.5 tonnes methane times GWP 27.0 equals 607.50 tonnes CO2e. Source lineage: IPCC 2006 Guidelines, DEFRA 2025, IPCC AR6 GWP-100, GreenCalculus MasterBrain, your inventory. — MasterBrain v2026.284 · updated 6 Nov 2026

Send a tonne of food waste and a tonne of plastic packaging to the same landfill and they behave nothing alike: the food generates methane for decades while the plastic is inert, and if both are incinerated instead, the plastic’s carbon is counted in full while the food’s is not counted at all. The destination is identical. The material decides the emission.

Waste accounting by stream is the discipline of reading a material’s composition — its degradable carbon and its fossil-carbon fraction — to know which model applies before a single number is calculated.

Quick Answer

A waste stream’s emissions depend on its composition: degradable organic carbon drives landfill methane; fossil-carbon fraction drives counted incineration CO₂. Wastewater uses a separate BOD/COD methane model plus a nitrogen-based N₂O term. All Scope 3 Category 5.

Scope 3 Cat 5 · 18 min read

Step-by-step method for quantifying emissions from waste generated in operations by material stream: construction & demolition, food, paper, textiles, plastic and packaging, e-waste, hazardous waste, and wastewater. Reading each stream’s composition — degradable organic carbon and fossil-carbon fraction — to select the right IPCC 2006 Volume 5 model, computing the dedicated BOD/COD methane and nitrogen N₂O sub-models for wastewater, and converting to CO₂e. This is the material-first companion to the destination-first waste disposal-route methodology; it cross-references the route mechanics rather than repeating them. Frameworks: IPCC 2006 Guidelines Volume 5, the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard, DEFRA 2025 (collection transport), and IPCC AR6 GWPs.

This page · material-first

By stream — “what is it made of?”

Organised by the eight material streams. The composition (degradable organic carbon, fossil-carbon fraction) selects the model and sets the result. Adds the wastewater BOD/COD sub-model, which has no route-page analogue.

Sibling · destination-first

By route — “where does it go?”

Organised by destination (landfill / incineration / composting / recycling). Carries the full route mechanics — the IPCC First-Order Decay equation, recovery and oxidation. This page links there for the route maths rather than repeating it.

How values are sourced. Each IPCC parameter — per-component DOC, incineration fossil-carbon fraction, wastewater MCF / B₀ / N₂O factor — is a confirmed MasterBrain waste.* row carrying IPCC 2006 Volume 5 provenance, so the reference tables render it live via the gc_factor shortcode and each number links to its source. What is fixed is the worked-example arithmetic: a stream’s emission is a multi-step derivation, not a single headline-factor lookup, so the calculation chain and result are pinned with citation for audit. Collection transport (via gc_factor) and the CH₄/N₂O global warming potentials (via gc_gwp) likewise render live.

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Why Composition, Not Just Destination, Decides the Model

The companion disposal-route methodology answers where waste goes; this one answers what it is, because the two questions interact. A disposal route does not have a single emission factor — it has a model whose inputs come from the material. Landfill’s methane output scales with the stream’s degradable organic carbon (DOC): food and paper generate large volumes, inert construction rubble almost none. Incineration’s counted CO₂ scales with the stream’s fossil-carbon fraction: plastics are entirely fossil and fully counted, while food and wood are biogenic and excluded from the headline. The model is chosen by the route, but its result is set by the composition.

This is why a credible waste inventory segments by stream before it applies any factor. The GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard places all of this in Category 5 (waste generated in operations); the quantification draws on the IPCC 2006 Guidelines Volume 5 models. The distinctive content of a stream-first treatment is twofold: the composition parameters that drive each route model, and the wastewater stream, which uses an entirely separate biochemical-oxygen-demand model that no solid-waste route covers.

Two composition parameters select everything downstream

For any solid stream, two MasterBrain values decide its fate. The degradable organic carbon (waste.landfill.doc.msw.<component>) governs landfill methane: food 0.15, paper 0.40, wood 0.43, textiles 0.24, inert 0. The fossil-carbon fraction (waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.<component>) governs counted incineration CO₂: plastics 1.0, textiles 0.2, paper 0.01, food/garden/wood 0. Read these two numbers for a stream and you already know which route hurts most and why.

When to Use This Methodology (vs the Route Page)

Use this methodology when

You are quantifying a waste inventory segmented by material — construction & demolition, food, paper, textiles, plastic and packaging, e-waste, hazardous, or wastewater — and need each stream’s composition to select the right model; when wastewater is in scope (its BOD/COD methane and nitrogen N₂O model lives only here); or when you are comparing the emissions of the same material across alternative routes.

Use the route page instead when

You already know the disposal route and want the full mechanics of that route’s model — the IPCC First-Order Decay equation, methane recovery and oxidation, the incineration combustion chain, the recycling cut-off. The disposal-route methodology carries those in full; this page links to them rather than repeating them, and focuses on the material-side inputs and the wastewater model.

Step 1 — Set the Boundary: Stream, Route & the Carbon Split

Three things must be fixed per stream before calculating: the scope, the route the stream actually takes, and whether its carbon is fossil or biogenic. The scope and route logic are shared with the route page; the carbon split is where the material view earns its place.

Decision	Rule	Where it lands
Scope	Third-party treatment of waste you generate.	Scope 3 Cat 5 (Scope 1 if treated in owned equipment)
Route per stream	Each stream may split across routes (e.g. food → part compost, part landfill). Apply the route model to each fraction.	Route mechanics: disposal-route page
Carbon split	Fossil carbon (plastics, synthetic textiles) is counted in the headline; biogenic carbon (food, paper, wood) is a memo item — but biogenic methane is counted in full.	Set by the stream’s fossil-carbon fraction

The fossil-carbon trap: plastics and synthetic textiles are not “just more waste”

When organic streams are incinerated, their CO₂ is biogenic and excluded from the headline. When plastics are incinerated, every kilogram of carbon is fossil (fossil-carbon fraction 1.0) and counted in full — so a tonne of plastic packaging produces a headline emission an order of magnitude above the same tonne of food or paper. Synthetic textiles sit in between (fossil fraction ~0.2). Treating all incinerated waste as “biogenic, therefore zero” is the defining error of the material view, and it understates plastic-heavy streams badly.

Step 2 — The Eight Waste Streams

Each stream is characterised by its composition parameters and the route it typically takes. The table renders the governing MasterBrain values live; pick the parameter family that matches the route in question — landfill carbon uses DOC, incineration uses the fossil-carbon fraction.

**GreenCalculus** MasterBrain data version 2026.284 · 13 factors from IPCC WASTE 2006 · keys waste.landfill.doc.msw.food_waste, waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.food_waste, waste.landfill.doc.msw.garden_park and 10 more · each resolves at verify.greencalculus.com/‹key› with its source cell.
Stream	DOC (landfill, live)	Fossil-C fraction (incineration, live)	Typical route · dominant gas
Food	0.15	0.00	landfill / compost / AD · CH₄
Garden / park	0.20	0.00	compost / AD / landfill · CH₄
Paper / cardboard	0.40	0.01	recycling / landfill · CH₄ biogenic
Wood	0.43	0.00	landfill / incineration · CH₄
Textiles	0.24	0.20	landfill / incineration · CH₄ + part-fossil CO₂
Plastic / packaging	0.00	1.00	incineration / landfill · fossil CO₂
Construction & demolition	0.04	~0 (largely inert)	landfill (inert) · low
E-waste / hazardous	no stream-specific MB row	via incineration component rows	cut-off recovery / high-temp incineration (see Step 5 traps)

DOC values: waste.landfill.doc.msw.* (IPCC 2006 Vol 5 Ch 2 Table 2.4). Fossil-carbon fractions: waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.* (Ch 5). Both render live via the gc_factor shortcode. Plastic/packaging carries near-zero DOC (it does not generate landfill methane) but a fossil-carbon fraction of 1.0 — the contrast that defines the stream. E-waste and hazardous have no dedicated MB rows; see Step 5.

Degradable organics — food, garden, paper, wood

These streams are defined by a high DOC and therefore by landfill methane. Diverting them to composting or anaerobic digestion is the largest single lever in most waste inventories, because it removes the methane-generating mass from the anaerobic landfill environment — the mechanism is detailed on the route page. Their carbon is biogenic, so incineration produces no counted CO₂ from them; only the biogenic methane from landfill counts. The composting and anaerobic-digestion routes have their own confirmed MasterBrain factor families (waste.composting.*, waste.anaerobic_digestion.*) for the small CH₄ and N₂O they emit.

Part-fossil streams — textiles, plastic, packaging

These carry fossil carbon, so the incineration route produces a counted CO₂ headline. Plastic and most rigid packaging is wholly fossil (fossil-carbon fraction 1.0); synthetic-blend textiles are partly fossil (~0.2). Their DOC is low or zero — plastic does not degrade in landfill — so their landfill methane is negligible and their entire emission concern is the fossil CO₂ on incineration. For these streams the route decision is inverted relative to organics: landfill is low-emission (inert), incineration is high-emission (fossil carbon released).

Inert & specialist — C&D, e-waste, hazardous

Construction and demolition waste is largely inert: low DOC, negligible fossil carbon, so its disposal-stage emission is dominated by collection transport rather than treatment. E-waste and hazardous waste are specialist streams that the IPCC solid-waste models do not cover with dedicated factors — they are handled by routing to the relevant component model, explained in the error traps below.

Step 3 — Wastewater: the BOD/COD Sub-Model

Wastewater is the stream with no solid-waste analogue. Its methane comes not from decomposing solids but from the anaerobic breakdown of dissolved and suspended organic matter, measured as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD, the domestic basis) or chemical oxygen demand (COD, the industrial basis). A separate nitrogen term produces N₂O. Both are confirmed MasterBrain families under waste.wastewater.* (IPCC 2006 Volume 5 Chapter 6).

CH₄ from organic load

Organic load (kg BOD or COD)Domestic uses BOD; industrial uses COD with a per-industry loading (waste.wastewater.industrial.cod.<industry>, kg COD/m³ — e.g. dairy 2.7, pulp & paper 9, alcohol refining 11).

Maximum methane potential B₀waste.wastewater.domestic.b0.bod = 0.6 kg CH₄/kg BOD, or …b0.cod = 0.25 kg CH₄/kg COD (industrial uses the same 0.25).

Methane correction factor (MCF)By treatment system: mcf.treated.centralized_aerobic_well_managed 0, …anaerobic_reactor 0.8, …anaerobic_shallow_lagoon 0.2, …septic_system 0.5. The system determines how much of the potential is realised.

CH₄ emitted(organic load − any removed sludge) × B₀ × MCF, less any recovered/flared CH₄. Convert at the methane GWP.

CH₄ = (TOW − S) × (B₀ × MCF) − R where TOW = total organics in wastewater (kg BOD or COD), S = organics removed as sludge, B₀ = maximum methane-producing capacity, MCF = methane correction factor for the treatment system, R = recovered methane. The product B₀ × MCF is the effective emission factor per kg of organic load.

N₂O from nitrogen

Nitrogen discharged in effluent is converted to N₂O. The default effluent factor is waste.wastewater.n2o.effluent.default = 0.005 kg N₂O-N/kg N. The nitrogen load itself can be built from protein consumption via the protein-to-nitrogen factor waste.wastewater.n2o.f_npr.nitrogen_in_protein = 0.16 kg N/kg protein, with adjustment factors for non-consumed protein and industrial co-discharge. The N₂O-N is converted to N₂O by the 44/28 molecular-weight ratio, then to CO₂e at the N₂O GWP.

Wastewater is frequently the omitted stream — and it can dominate

Corporate waste inventories routinely capture solid streams and overlook wastewater, yet for food processing, beverage, pulp-and-paper and chemical operations the wastewater methane can exceed every solid stream combined, because the organic load is high and anaerobic treatment systems realise a large fraction of the methane potential. If the operation discharges high-strength effluent, the wastewater stream is not a rounding item — it is often the largest single line.

Step 4 — Collection Transport

As on the route page, the collection and haulage of each stream to its treatment site is Scope 3 Category 4, computed from distance and a live transport factor. For inert streams like C&D, and for any stream routed to cut-off recycling, this transport term is the dominant — sometimes the only — disposal-stage emission, so it is never omitted.

**GreenCalculus** MasterBrain data version 2026.284 · 3 factors from DEFRA 2026, GLEC FRAMEWORK · keys delivery_vehicles.hgv.rigid_all.0pct_laden.diesel, delivery_vehicles.hgv.all.0pct_laden.diesel, freight_detailed.road.eu_sa.artic_34_40t.avg.diesel · each resolves at verify.greencalculus.com/‹key› with its source cell.
Vehicle / basis	Unit	Factor (live)
Rigid HGV — all, empty running	kg CO₂e/vehicle-km	0.68691
HGV — all types, empty running	kg CO₂e/vehicle-km	0.66699
EU/SA artic 34–40t (haul to site)	kg CO₂e/tonne-km	0.101

Collection-transport factors: DEFRA 2026 (per vehicle-km) and GLEC v3.2 (per tonne-km), rendered live via the gc_factor shortcode. See the road-freight methodology for vehicle-band selection and the last-mile methodology for refuse-round modelling.

Step 5 — Combine and Convert to CO₂e

Each stream’s total is its treatment emission (route model × composition) plus its collection transport, with non-CO₂ gases converted at their GWP. The biogenic/fossil split and the GWP conventions are shared with the route page and applied identically here:

Stream CO₂e = (treatment CH₄ × GWP_CH₄) + (treatment N₂O × GWP_N₂O) + fossil CO₂ + transport CO₂e Fossil CO₂ enters the headline; biogenic CO₂ is a memo item; biogenic methane is counted in full. GWP_CH₄ and GWP_N₂O render live via the gc_gwp shortcode; the treatment terms come from the per-stream model; transport from the live gc_factor shortcode.

Use the right methane GWP — and never mix AR5 and AR6

Convert methane at the AR6 100-year GWP: 27 [GreenCalculus gwp.CH4_biogenic.ar6_100 · IPCC AR6 · v2026.284] for biogenic methane (landfill organics, wastewater) and 29.8 [GreenCalculus gwp.CH4_fossil.ar6_100 · IPCC AR6] where the source is fossil. Nitrous oxide converts at 273 [GreenCalculus gwp.N2O.ar6_100 · IPCC AR6 WGI Ch 7 Table 7.SM.7 (2021) — AR6 GWP-100]. Use AR6 throughout for corporate reporting; reserve AR5 for DEFRA regulatory mode; never mix the two within one inventory.

Worked Examples

Three fully reconciled worked examples for a fictional food-and-beverage manufacturer, Aldermere Foods Ltd. The IPCC parameters are confirmed MasterBrain waste.* rows (rendered live in the tables above); here the worked-example inputs and arithmetic are fixed snapshots. The three streams show the composition-driven contrast: a biogenic organic, a fossil plastic, and the wastewater sub-model.

Stream profile & MB parameters (fixed snapshot, MB waste.landfill.*)

500 t food waste → managed anaerobic landfill, small site, no gas recovery
DOC 0.15 (waste.landfill.doc.msw.food_waste) · DOCf 0.5 · MCF 1.0 · F 0.5 · OX 0.1 · 16/12 = 1.333 Single-component DOC — a pure food stream, unlike the route page’s composition-weighted bulk MSW. Biogenic carbon: no counted incineration CO₂; landfill methane counts in full.

CH₄ per tonne0.15 × 0.5 × 1.0 × 0.5 × 1.333 = 0.05 t CH₄/t

CH₄ generated (500 t)500 × 0.05 = 25 t CH₄

less oxidation (OX 0.1)25 × (1 − 0.10) = 22.5 t CH₄ net

× GWP (CH₄ biogenic 27.0)22.5 × 27.0 = 607.50 t CO₂e

607.5 t CO₂e treatment term · Cat 5 · 500 t food waste to landfill

Diverting this stream to composting collapses the methane: the food never enters the anaerobic landfill environment, and waste.composting.* emits only a small CH₄ + N₂O fraction per tonne. The diversion lever, quantified on the route page, is largest for exactly this kind of high-DOC biogenic stream.

Stream profile & MB parameters (fixed snapshot, MB waste.incineration.*)

200 t mixed plastic packaging → incineration with energy recovery
Carbon content C 0.75 · fossil-carbon fraction FCF 1.0 (waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.plastics) · oxidation OF 1.0 · 44/12 = 3.667 FCF 1.0 = ALL carbon is fossil and counted. Contrast the same 200 t of paper (FCF 0.01) below.

Total carbon200 × 0.75 = 150 t C

fossil carbon (FCF 1.0)150 × 1.0 = 150 t fossil C

× OF × 44/12150 × 1.0 × 3.667 = 550 t fossil CO₂

paper contrast (FCF 0.01)200 × 0.40 × 0.01 × 3.667 ≈ 2.9 t

550 t CO₂e headline (fossil CO₂) · Cat 5 · 200 t plastic incinerated

The same 200 t as paper would yield about 2.9 t of counted CO₂ — roughly 190× lower — with the rest biogenic and excluded. Identical mass, identical incinerator, two orders of magnitude apart, entirely because of the fossil-carbon fraction. This is why plastic and packaging streams must be separated from biogenic streams before any incineration factor is applied.

Effluent profile & MB parameters (fixed snapshot, MB waste.wastewater.*)

Process effluent: 50,000 kg BOD/yr → anaerobic reactor; 4,000 kg N/yr to effluent
B₀ 0.6 kg CH₄/kg BOD (domestic.b0.bod) · MCF 0.8 (mcf.treated.anaerobic_reactor) · N₂O EF 0.005 kg N₂O-N/kg N (n2o.effluent.default) · 44/28 N conversion Anaerobic reactor realises most of the methane potential (MCF 0.8). No solid-waste model covers this — wastewater is the stream’s own sub-model.

CH₄ EF (B₀ × MCF)0.6 × 0.8 = 0.48 kg CH₄/kg BOD

CH₄ emitted50,000 × 0.48 = 24,000 kg = 24 t CH₄

CH₄ → CO₂e (× 27.0)24 × 27.0 = 648.0 t

N₂O-N → N₂O (× 44/28)4,000 × 0.005 × 44/28 = 31.4 kg N₂O

N₂O → CO₂e (× 273)0.0314 × 273 = 8.6 t

656.6 t CO₂e CH₄ 648.0 t + N₂O 8.6 t · Cat 5 · process wastewater, anaerobic reactor

Routing the same effluent through a well-managed aerobic plant (MCF 0) would eliminate the 648.0 t methane term entirely — the treatment system, not the organic load, is the lever here. The methane dominates the nitrogen term ~75:1, which is typical for high-strength anaerobic-treated effluent.

Waste-Stream Comparison Matrix

Wood (DOC 0.43)

3.87 t CO₂e/t

Paper / cardboard (DOC 0.40)

3.60 t CO₂e/t

Textiles (DOC 0.24)

2.16 t CO₂e/t

Garden / park (DOC 0.20)

1.80 t CO₂e/t

Food (DOC 0.15)

1.35 t CO₂e/t

Plastic / inert (DOC 0)

0 t CO₂e/t

Illustrative gross landfill-methane potential per tonne by stream, from DOC alone (DOCf 0.5, MCF 1.0, F 0.5, biogenic CH₄ GWP 27.0; before recovery/oxidation). This is the landfill ranking — on the incineration route the order inverts: plastic (fossil-C 1.0) tops it and the organics fall to zero counted CO₂. Values taken from MB waste.landfill.doc.msw.*; snapshot 2026-06-08.

Stream	Landfill driver (DOC)	Incineration driver (fossil-C)	Model / MB family
Food, garden	high (0.15–0.20)	none (biogenic)	FOD / compost / AD · `waste.landfill / composting / anaerobic_digestion`
Paper, wood	very high (0.40–0.43)	near-zero (0.01)	FOD or recycling cut-off · `waste.landfill.doc.msw`
Textiles	moderate (0.24)	part-fossil (0.2)	FOD + partial fossil CO₂ · both families
Plastic, packaging	~0 (inert)	full fossil (1.0)	incineration combustion · `waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.plastics`
C&D	low (0.04)	~0	transport-dominated · `waste.landfill.doc.industrial`
E-waste, hazardous	no MB row	via component rows	cut-off / high-temp incineration · `waste.incineration` clinical/industrial
Wastewater	N/A (liquid)	N/A	BOD/COD methane + N₂O · `waste.wastewater.*`

Edge Cases & Error Traps

Error	What happens	Consequence	How to avoid
Treating incinerated plastic as biogenic	Applying a “biogenic, therefore zero” assumption to a fossil stream.	Large understatement Plastic’s fossil-carbon fraction is 1.0 — a tonne incinerated is ~190× the counted CO₂ of a tonne of paper. Mislabelling it biogenic drops a major emission.	Read the fossil-carbon fraction per stream (`waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.*`). Plastic 1.0, textiles 0.2, organics 0.
Omitting the wastewater stream	Capturing only solid streams; treating effluent as out of scope.	Largest line missed For food/beverage, pulp-and-paper and chemical operations, anaerobic-treated wastewater methane can exceed all solid streams combined.	Include wastewater. Use the BOD (domestic) or COD (industrial) model with the system-specific MCF.
Assuming an e-waste or hazardous “factor” exists	Searching for a dedicated e-waste/hazardous MB row.	Fabricated value risk The IPCC solid-waste dataset has no e-waste, WEEE, battery or hazardous-stream rows — only landfill, wastewater, incineration, composting, AD.	Route hazardous to high-temp incineration (`waste.incineration` clinical/industrial slugs); treat e-waste recovery as cut-off, applying component rows for any in-boundary fraction. Never invent a stream key.
Using one DOC for “mixed waste”	Applying a single blended DOC instead of weighting per component.	Wrong methane potential There is no aggregate DOC row; a guessed blend can misstate the landfill term substantially.	Weight per-component DOC by composition (IPCC Eq. 3.7) — the method on the route page.
Conflating BOD and COD bases	Applying the BOD B₀ (0.6) to a COD-measured industrial load, or vice versa.	~2.4× error B₀ is 0.6 per kg BOD but 0.25 per kg COD — the same effluent measured two ways needs the matching B₀.	Match the B₀ to the measurement basis: BOD → 0.6, COD → 0.25. Domestic typically BOD; industrial typically COD.
Double-counting sludge	Counting wastewater organics AND the sludge sent to landfill/incineration as separate full streams.	Overstatement Organics removed as sludge (S) leave the wastewater stream; counting them again in a solid route double-books the carbon.	Subtract sludge organics (S) from the wastewater load; account the sludge once, in whichever route actually treats it.

Governance, Assurance & Data Quality

A stream-segmented inventory is auditable when each stream’s mass and composition trace to source: tonnage by stream to waste-transfer notes; composition to either a waste-characterisation study or the IPCC default fractions; wastewater load to discharge monitoring (BOD/COD lab results) and the treatment-system type. The IPCC tier structure applies per stream.

Tier 1 (default): IPCC 2006 Volume 5 default composition and parameters per stream — the method here, adequate for most corporate inventories.
Tier 2 (site/national): measured waste-characterisation fractions, or operator-specific wastewater BOD/COD and treatment-system data.
Tier 3 (measured): direct gas-capture or effluent-monitoring data where available.
Composition evidence: a documented waste-characterisation basis is the single highest-value input, because it drives the DOC and fossil-carbon-fraction weighting for every solid stream.
Disclosure: state the tier, the GWP basis (AR6), the parameter source (MB waste.* / IPCC 2006 Vol 5), and the biogenic/fossil split per stream.

A waste-characterisation study pays for itself in the fossil-carbon line

The biggest uncertainty in a stream inventory is usually the plastic and synthetic-textile fraction, because it drives the counted incineration CO₂. A one-off characterisation study that pins the fossil-carbon-bearing fractions converts the largest source of error into tier-2 data and is the most effective single investment in waste-inventory quality.

What a Calculator Handles vs What You Decide

The per-stream arithmetic is mechanical once composition and route are fixed; the judgement is in segmentation, the fossil/biogenic split, and the wastewater system characterisation. The Waste Streams Calculator automates this arithmetic.

⚙ The calculators handle

Per-stream landfill FOD (composition-weighted DOC)
Incineration fossil CO₂ from the fossil-carbon fraction
Composting / anaerobic-digestion per-tonne factors
Wastewater BOD/COD methane (B₀ × MCF) and nitrogen N₂O
CH₄/N₂O → CO₂e at the AR6 GWP, and collection transport

✎ You must decide

Segmentation: how to split mixed waste into streams, from characterisation data
Fossil / biogenic: the fossil-carbon fraction of plastic-bearing streams
Route per stream: which fraction goes where (cross-ref the route page)
Wastewater system: the treatment type that sets MCF, and the BOD vs COD basis
E-waste / hazardous: cut-off vs in-boundary component treatment

A dedicated waste-streams calculator (C&D / food / e-waste / hazardous / textile / packaging / plastic / wastewater) and a waste-by-route calculator are on the GreenCalculus roadmap. Until they ship, the per-stream models above plus the live collection-transport factor produce the Category 5 figures this methodology requires.

Methodology Metadata — For Inventory Documentation

Copy into your waste-inventory documentation. The IPCC parameters are confirmed MasterBrain rows that render live; the worked-example figures are dated snapshots for audit.

Methodology GreenCalculus Waste Stream Emissions Methodology v1.0 (June 2026). greencalculus.com/methodology/waste-streams-methodology/ — material-first companion to the destination-first waste disposal-route methodology.

GHG category Scope 3 Category 5 (waste generated in operations) for third-party treatment; Category 4 for collection transport; Scope 1 where treatment is in owned equipment.

Stream models IPCC 2006 Guidelines Volume 5: per-component DOC (Ch 2 Table 2.4) and incineration fossil-carbon fraction (Ch 5) for solids; BOD/COD methane and nitrogen N₂O (Ch 6) for wastewater. Confirmed MB families waste.landfill.doc.msw.*, waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.*, waste.wastewater.*, waste.composting.*, waste.anaerobic_digestion.* — rendered live via the gc_factor shortcode; worked-example derivations fixed.

Wastewater B₀ = 0.6 kg CH₄/kg BOD (domestic) or 0.25 kg CH₄/kg COD (industrial); MCF by treatment system (aerobic well-managed 0 → anaerobic reactor 0.8); N₂O effluent factor 0.005 kg N₂O-N/kg N; protein-to-N 0.16. All MB waste.wastewater.* (IPCC Vol 5 Ch 6).

GWP basis IPCC AR6 GWP-100: CH₄ biogenic 27.0, CH₄ fossil 29.8, N₂O 273. AR6 for corporate reporting; AR5 only in DEFRA regulatory mode; never mixed.

Carbon split Fossil CO₂ counted in headline; biogenic CO₂ a memo item; biogenic methane counted in full. Fossil-carbon fraction: plastics 1.0, textiles 0.2, paper 0.01, organics 0.

Key values (snapshot 2026-06-08) Worked examples: 500 t food → landfill 607.5 t CO₂e; 200 t plastic → incineration 550 t (vs 200 t paper ≈ 2.9 t — the fossil-carbon contrast); process wastewater 50,000 kg BOD anaerobic reactor → 656.6 t CO₂e (CH₄ 648.0 + N₂O 8.6). MB parameters render live; these are audit snapshots.

Scope of advice Factual calculation reference, not legal or financial advice. Confirm stream segmentation against waste-characterisation evidence and wastewater data against discharge monitoring.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How does this methodology differ from the waste disposal-route one?

They are an axis pair over the same IPCC dataset. The disposal-route methodology is organised by destination — landfill, incineration, composting, recycling — and carries the full route mechanics, such as the First-Order Decay equation and methane recovery. This methodology is organised by material — food, paper, plastic, textiles, wastewater and so on — and focuses on how each stream’s composition selects the model and sets the result. Use this page to segment and characterise streams; use the route page for the detailed maths of a given destination. Together they cover the same Category 5 inventory from two complementary angles.

Why does incinerated plastic count when incinerated food does not?

Because of the fossil-carbon fraction. Plastic is made from fossil feedstock, so all of its carbon is fossil (fraction 1.0) and its combustion CO₂ is counted in the headline. Food, paper and wood are biogenic — part of the short carbon cycle — so their combustion CO₂ is reported as a memo item and excluded from the headline, exactly as in combustion accounting. A tonne of plastic incinerated therefore produces roughly 190 times the counted CO₂ of a tonne of paper. The crucial exception is methane: biogenic methane from landfill is counted in full even though biogenic CO₂ is not.

How are wastewater emissions calculated?

With a dedicated model that no solid-waste route uses. Methane comes from the organic load — biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) for domestic effluent, chemical oxygen demand (COD) for industrial — multiplied by the maximum methane potential B₀ (0.6 per kg BOD or 0.25 per kg COD) and a methane correction factor (MCF) set by the treatment system, from 0 for a well-managed aerobic plant to 0.8 for an anaerobic reactor. A separate nitrogen term produces N₂O from the effluent nitrogen load at 0.005 kg N₂O-N per kg N. For high-strength effluent treated anaerobically, the wastewater methane can be the largest single line in the whole waste inventory.

Is there an emission factor for e-waste or hazardous waste?

Not as a dedicated stream. The IPCC 2006 Volume 5 dataset has no e-waste, WEEE, battery or hazardous-stream emission factors — only landfill, wastewater, incineration, composting and anaerobic digestion. Hazardous and clinical waste are handled by routing to high-temperature incineration and using the incineration model’s clinical and industrial parameters. E-waste sent for material recovery is treated as a cut-off: the recovered material carries its burden into the next product system, and the generator’s disposal-stage emission is the collection transport plus any in-boundary fraction sent to incineration or landfill, computed with the relevant component factors. Do not assume a dedicated factor exists for these streams.

What is the difference between BOD and COD, and why does it matter for the calculation?

Both measure the organic load in wastewater, but on different bases: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is the oxygen consumed by biological breakdown, the conventional domestic basis; chemical oxygen demand (COD) is the oxygen consumed by chemical oxidation, the conventional industrial basis and generally a larger number for the same effluent. The maximum methane potential differs accordingly — 0.6 kg CH₄ per kg BOD but 0.25 per kg COD — so you must pair the B₀ value to the measurement basis. Applying the BOD B₀ to a COD-measured load, or vice versa, produces an error of roughly 2.4 times.

Why does the same stream rank differently for landfill versus incineration?

Because the two routes are driven by different composition parameters that often point in opposite directions. Landfill emissions scale with degradable organic carbon (DOC), so wood and paper rank highest and plastic is near zero. Incineration emissions scale with the fossil-carbon fraction, so plastic ranks highest and the organics fall to zero counted CO₂. A stream that is a major problem in one route can be benign in the other — which is exactly why the disposal route and the material composition must be considered together, and why the two methodologies complement each other.

Can I use one degradable-organic-carbon value for mixed waste?

No — there is no aggregate DOC value in the dataset, by design. Degradable organic carbon is defined per component: food 0.15, garden 0.20, paper and cardboard 0.40, wood 0.43, textiles 0.24, inert materials 0. For a mixed stream you weight the per-component values by your waste composition using the IPCC weighting relation, producing a bulk DOC specific to that mix; the disposal-route methodology works a full example of this. Guessing a single blended figure is a common and material error, because the bulk DOC depends entirely on how much of the stream is high-carbon paper and wood versus low-carbon inert material.

Provenance

MasterBrain v2026.284

The 19 factors this page used

Read from MasterBrain when this page was built. Each row names the published document and the cell the number came from, so you can check it against the original.

waste.landfill.doc.msw.food_waste0.15fraction (kg C / kg wet waste)IPCC WASTE 2006 VOL5 Ch 2 Table 2.4 — DOC content in % of wet waste, row "food waste", default valueretrieved 20 May 2026

waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.food_waste0fraction (kg fossil C / kg total C in component)IPCC WASTE 2006 VOL5 Ch 2 Table 2.4 — Fossil carbon fraction in % of total carbon, row "food waste", default valueretrieved 20 May 2026

waste.landfill.doc.msw.garden_park0.2fraction (kg C / kg wet waste)IPCC WASTE 2006 VOL5 Ch 2 Table 2.4 — DOC content in % of wet waste, row "garden (yard) and park waste", default valueretrieved 20 May 2026

waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.garden_park0fraction (kg fossil C / kg total C in component)IPCC WASTE 2006 VOL5 Ch 2 Table 2.4 — Fossil carbon fraction in % of total carbon, row "garden and park waste", default valueretrieved 20 May 2026

waste.landfill.doc.msw.paper_cardboard0.4fraction (kg C / kg wet waste)IPCC WASTE 2006 VOL5 Ch 2 Table 2.4 — DOC content in % of wet waste, row "paper & cardboard", default valueretrieved 20 May 2026

waste.incineration.co2.fcf.msw.paper_cardboard0.01fraction (kg fossil C / kg total C in component)IPCC WASTE 2006 VOL5 Ch 2 Table 2.4 — Fossil carbon fraction in % of total carbon, row "paper and cardboard", default valueretrieved 20 May 2026

Showing 6 of 19 factors cited on this page.

Sources behind this methodology

Cite this page

APA

GreenCalculus. (2026). Waste Stream Emissions. MasterBrain data edition v2026.284 (6 Nov 2026). https://greencalculus.com/methodology/waste-streams-methodology/

BibTeX

@misc{greencalculus_waste_streams_methodology_2026,
  author       = {{GreenCalculus}},
  title        = {Waste Stream Emissions},
  year         = {2026},
  organization = {GreenCalculus},
  publisher    = {Numbers Publishing Pte. Ltd.},
  note         = {MasterBrain data edition v2026.284 (6 Nov 2026)},
  url          = {https://greencalculus.com/methodology/waste-streams-methodology/}
}

Drawn from 21,133 factors across 294 source documents · edition v2026.284, updated 6 Nov 2026 · every source and its licence