# How do I calculate the CO2 from incinerating waste?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/waste-incineration-fossil-co2-calculation

Use IPCC Equation 5.1: waste burnt x dry matter share x carbon share x fossil carbon share x oxidation factor x 44/12. Only fossil carbon, mainly from plastics and synthetics, counts in the CO2 total; carbon in food, paper and wood is biogenic.

## The inputs

- Tonnes of each waste type burnt, from the operator's records.
- Dry matter, carbon and fossil carbon fractions: measured, or IPCC defaults.
- Oxidation factor: 1.0 for incineration by IPCC default.

## Who reports it

If you run the incinerator, its CO2 is Scope 1. Waste sent to an outside incinerator or waste-to-energy plant is Scope 3, Category 5 for the generator.

## Biogenic carbon

Food, paper and wood carbon is biogenic, so its CO2 is reported outside the scopes. Methane and N2O from incineration are small and calculated separately.

## Worked example: plastic waste incinerated (illustrative inputs)

- Plastic waste incinerated: 10,000 kg
- IPCC defaults for plastics: dry matter 100 percent, carbon 75 percent of dry matter, fossil carbon 100 percent, oxidation 1.0
- Fossil CO2: 10,000 x 1.0 x 0.75 x 1.0 x 1.0 x 44/12 = 27,500 kg, about 27.5 t

Fractions are IPCC 2006 defaults for plastics (Volume 5, Table 2.4); use measured values where available.

## 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.

- [Waste sent to waste-to-energy](https://senseible.earth/answers/waste-sent-to-waste-to-energy-scope-3)
- [Plastic waste co-processing in kilns](https://senseible.earth/answers/plastic-waste-coprocessing-cement-kiln-emissions)
- [Hazardous waste emissions from manifests](https://senseible.earth/answers/hazardous-waste-emissions-from-manifest-india)

Sources: [2006 IPCC Guidelines, Volume 5 Waste, Chapters 2 and 5](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/), [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-21.