# We burn cutting waste and fabric scrap in our boiler: how does the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) count it?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/higg-fem-fabric-waste-burnt-in-boiler

The Higg FEM has its own fabric waste fuel line, listed under non-renewable energy. Enter the tonnes you burn on it, whether the scrap is your own or bought in. The form lists it as a fuel with its own factor, and a contractor running your boiler does not remove it.

## What the guide says

- Fabric Waste is a named line under non-renewable energy. The guide describes it as scrap or unused fabric from the facility or an external source that is suitable for energy generation, for example by incineration.
- It is one line. The list does not split cotton from polyester.
- The guide says a facility with onsite boilers must report them, even if a third party manages them, and must select the fuel used in the boiler as an energy source.

## What the form does with it

In Cascale's FEM 2024 paper, fabric waste is 21.7568 megajoules (MJ) of heat a kilogram, at 0.1100 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per MJ. That is the same per-MJ figure the paper gives for biomass, and higher than its figure for coal at 0.0950.

## Records that make the figure checkable (our suggestions)

- Weighment slips or a register for scrap sent to the boiler, by month.
- Records of scrap bought in, with the weight on the bill.
- Our suggestion, not a Cascale rule: keep the scrap that was sold or sent away apart, so the burnt quantity is clear.

## 200 tonnes of scrap fabric burnt in a year

- Heat: 200,000 kilograms x 21.7568 = 4,351,360 MJ
- Emissions: 4,351,360 x 0.1100 = 478,650 kilograms, about 478.6 tonnes of CO2e

The quantity is an example. Figures are from the FEM 2024 paper.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so fuel bought for the boiler is on file by month. Scrap fabric you burn from your own cutting room has no bill, so its weights come from your own register, and the self-serve product does not enter anything into the Higg FEM.

- [Higg FEM energy and GHG data](https://senseible.earth/answers/higg-fem-energy-and-emissions-data)
- [Waste or biomass fuel in a boiler and Scope 1](https://senseible.earth/answers/biomass-or-waste-fuel-in-boiler-scope-1)
- [Textile industry](https://senseible.earth/industries/textile)

Sources: [Cascale, Higg FEM How to Higg Guide 2026 (English)](https://howtohigg.cascale.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Higg-FEM-How-to-Higg-Guide-2026-October-1st-2026-English-Final.pdf), [Cascale, FEM 2024 Energy and Global Warming Calculations](https://howtohigg.cascale.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FEM-2024-Energy-and-Global-Warming-Calculations.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-07. From the 2026 guide and Cascale's FEM 2024 calculations paper. The 2026 form's table may have changed; check the current Cascale papers each cycle.