# How do I calculate the emissions of an organic waste converter machine?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/organic-waste-converter-machine-emissions

Multiply the machine's electricity, from a sub-meter or rated power and hours, by 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, and divide by kg of wet waste processed. Composting the output releases a little methane and N2O. Landfill emissions avoided are not deducted.

## What to count

- Electricity for the shredder, mixer and heater.
- Additives such as sawdust or culture, as bought-in inputs.
- Methane and N2O from the curing stage, from IPCC composting defaults if you calculate them.

## Avoided landfill

Sending food waste to a converter instead of a landfill avoids methane, but that is an avoided emission. Report it separately, not as a reduction of your inventory.

## Per kg

Divide by kg of wet waste fed in, from the daily log, and report the kWh per kg so you can compare machines.

## Worked example: housing society converter (one month, illustrative inputs)

- Electricity: 1,800 kWh x 0.710 = 1,278 kg CO2
- Wet waste processed (kg): 9,000
- Total: 1,278 / 9,000 = 0.142 kg CO2 per kg of waste

Inputs are illustrative; use the sub-meter and waste log.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps waste manifests, transport invoices and treatment bills as evidence on the Scope 3 trail and reads electricity bills for on-site equipment into Scope 2. Avoided emissions are never subtracted from the inventory.

- [Food waste: landfill, compost or biogas](https://senseible.earth/answers/food-waste-landfill-vs-compost-vs-biogas-emissions)
- [Waste emissions in Scope 3, Category 5](https://senseible.earth/answers/waste-emissions-scope-3-category-5)

Sources: [2006 IPCC Guidelines, Volume 5 Waste, Chapters 2 and 5](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en), [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-21.