# What are the emissions of scrapping a car at a vehicle scrapping centre?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/vehicle-scrapping-centre-emissions-per-vehicle

The biggest risk is the AC refrigerant: if it escapes instead of being recovered, it is the centre's Scope 1 at a high global warming potential. Add electricity for cutting, balers and shredders, and diesel for handling. Divide by vehicles scrapped. Steel and aluminium sold go to recyclers and mills.

## Per vehicle

- Refrigerant recovered vs released, from recovery logs.
- Electricity per vehicle at 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh.
- Diesel for forklifts and cranes.
- Waste oil, coolant and batteries sent for treatment.

## For the fleet owner

Scrapping is end of life for your own vehicle, Category 5 waste if you pay for it.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and diesel, LPG and gas invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a dated, fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record for each site. Intensity per unit uses the activity count you enter, and estimates are labelled as estimates.

- [Refrigerant recovery at decommissioning](https://senseible.earth/answers/ac-decommissioning-refrigerant-recovery-emissions)
- [Lead acid battery recycling](https://senseible.earth/answers/lead-acid-battery-recycling-emissions-per-tonne)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [IPCC AR6 Working Group I](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.