What diversion rate do zero waste to landfill certifications require?
The main schemes start at 90% diversion by weight. UL 2799 grades a site Silver at 90 to 94%, Gold at 95 to 99% and Platinum at 100%. TRUE certification also needs 90% or more, but it counts waste sent to incineration, including waste-to-energy, as not diverted.
How the diversion rate is calculated
Diversion rate = waste diverted from landfill / total waste generated x 100, by weight, over a 12 month period. Reuse, recycling and composting count as diverted in every scheme. Open dumping and burning without energy recovery never count. Energy recovery is where schemes differ.
UL 2799 and TRUE side by side
- UL 2799 (UL Solutions, Environmental Claim Validation Procedure for Zero Waste to Landfill): a validated claim with tiers at 90%, 95% and 100%. Energy recovery can count towards diversion, and the validation states how much of the waste went that way.
- TRUE (run by GBCI): certification for facilities that divert 90% or more of waste from landfill, incineration and the environment, scored on a points system. Waste-to-energy does not count as diverted.
- A buyer asking for zero waste to landfill usually names one of these. Ask which, because the same site can pass one and fail the other.
Indian waste streams that often break the claim
- Hazardous waste sent to a TSDF for secure landfill under the Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules, 2016 counts as landfilled.
- ETP sludge from textile and chemical units often goes to the same secure landfill.
- Co-processing in cement kilns: check how your scheme treats it before you rely on it.
- Scrap sold to small dealers without weight slips or invoices, and municipal pickup with no record of where it went, are hard to prove as diverted.
Evidence a validator asks for
- Weighbridge slips or weighed records for every stream, for the full 12 months.
- Recycler and compost buyer invoices showing weights.
- Form 10 manifests for hazardous waste movements.
- Authorisation or registration of the recyclers and processors you use, issued by the State Pollution Control Board or CPCB.
Worked example: one site, one year, two schemes
- Total waste: 400 tonnes. Recycled 330, composted 30, waste-to-energy 25, landfilled 15
- Counting energy recovery as diverted: (330 + 30 + 25) / 400 = 385 / 400 = 96.25%, in the 95 to 99% tier
- Not counting energy recovery: (330 + 30) / 400 = 360 / 400 = 90%, just at the TRUE threshold
- Moving the 15 tonnes of landfill to recycling would give 100% on the first basis and 93.75% on the second
Figures are illustrative. Hazardous waste sent to a secure landfill belongs in the landfilled total.
What Senseible does here
Senseible keeps waste contractor invoices in its Scope 3 supplier evidence trail with a SHA-256 fingerprint per file, which helps when a validator asks for disposal records. The diversion audit and the zero waste claim itself come from the scheme's validator.
Sources: Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 (CPCB), Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 (MoEFCC), in force from 1 April 2026, replacing the 2016 Rules
Last reviewed 2026-10-17. UL 2799 and TRUE revise their criteria; confirm the current edition, especially how each treats waste-to-energy and co-processing.