We sell our metal and plastic scrap. Does that reduce our carbon footprint?
No. Selling scrap does not lower your Scope 1 or 2, and under the common cut-off approach the recycler, not you, gets the benefit of recycled material. What it does is keep scrap out of landfill, so your Category 5 waste emissions stay low.
What changes
- Waste to landfill falls, so Category 5 is smaller.
- Revenue from scrap does not offset fuel or power.
Avoided emissions
You may describe the recycling separately, but avoided emissions are reported outside your inventory, never subtracted from it.
What Senseible does here
Senseible keeps each figure tied to its invoice, factor and method version, so a verifier can trace any number back to the document it came from.
Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
Last reviewed 2026-10-22.