# How does the Greenhouse Gas Protocol work out end-of-life emissions for products I sold, using disposal shares and factors?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/category-12-disposal-split-worked-example

Take the mass of products sold, including packaging, multiply by the share going to each disposal route and by that route's factor, and add. The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol's laminated paper example gives 3,700 kilograms. Food and drink that is consumed can lower the waste mass, and some energy products can reach zero.

## What mass to start from

The guide says to collect the total mass of sold products and packaging from the point of sale through the end of life after consumer use. That includes the packaging used to move products to the retailer and any packaging disposed of before the end of the final product's life.

In many cases total waste equals the products sold in the year. If the product is actually consumed, as food and drink are, the waste is likely to be lower, and for products burnt to make energy it could even be zero.

## Where the disposal shares come from

The guide points to European Union data on average end-of-life treatment scenarios, United States Environmental Protection Agency statistics on waste generation, recycling and disposal, and the Waste Resources and Action Programme's average food and drink waste for the United Kingdom. For India you will usually need your own estimate and should say so (our reading).

- Your own research and internal data on how customers dispose of your products.
- Government rules on specific products, such as the European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.
- Industry associations that research disposal patterns.
- Average waste treatment data from the point of sale to the end of life.

## Say what you assumed

The guide says companies are required to report a description of the methods and assumptions used, because the calculation rests on assumptions about what consumers and retailers do. If you sell intermediate products, you are required to account for disposal of the intermediate product, not the final product.

## The guide's laminated paper example

- Landfill, 90 percent, factor 0.3: 10,000 x 90% x 0.3 = 2,700 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)
- Incinerated, 10 percent, factor 1.0: 10,000 x 10% x 1 = 1,000 kilograms CO2e
- Recycled, 0 percent: 0 kilograms CO2e
- Total: 2,700 + 1,000 + 0 = 3,700 kilograms CO2e, of which landfill is about 73 percent

The guide's text says the company sold 10,000 tonnes, while its table and the sum use 10,000 kilograms. The printed 3,700 follows the kilogram figure. If the mass were truly 10,000 tonnes, the same shares and factors per kilogram would give 3,700,000 kilograms, which is 3,700 tonnes. The values are the guide's examples, not for reuse.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, which covers your own Scope 1 and 2. It does not model what customers do with your products after sale.

- [Packaging sold with your products, Category 12](https://senseible.earth/answers/sold-packaging-end-of-life-category-12)
- [Metal products at end of life](https://senseible.earth/answers/metal-products-end-of-life-category-12)
- [Intermediate products at end of life](https://senseible.earth/answers/intermediate-product-end-of-life-not-final)
- [Recycling across Categories 1, 5 and 12](https://senseible.earth/answers/recycled-content-method-three-circumstances-scope-3)

Sources: [Greenhouse Gas Protocol Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions, Category 12 (Formula 12.1 and Example 12.1)](https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/2022-12/Chapter12.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. The tonnes versus kilograms difference is inside the guide's own example; the sum follows the table.