# What diversion rate do zero waste to landfill certifications require?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/zero-waste-to-landfill-certification-criteria

The main schemes start at 90% diversion by weight. UL 2799 grades a site Silver at 90 to 94%, Gold at 95 to 99% and Platinum at 100%. TRUE certification also needs 90% or more, but it counts waste sent to incineration, including waste-to-energy, as not diverted.

## How the diversion rate is calculated

Diversion rate = waste diverted from landfill / total waste generated x 100, by weight, over a 12 month period. Reuse, recycling and composting count as diverted in every scheme. Open dumping and burning without energy recovery never count. Energy recovery is where schemes differ.

## UL 2799 and TRUE side by side

- UL 2799 (UL Solutions, Environmental Claim Validation Procedure for Zero Waste to Landfill): a validated claim with tiers at 90%, 95% and 100%. Energy recovery can count towards diversion, and the validation states how much of the waste went that way.
- TRUE (run by GBCI): certification for facilities that divert 90% or more of waste from landfill, incineration and the environment, scored on a points system. Waste-to-energy does not count as diverted.
- A buyer asking for zero waste to landfill usually names one of these. Ask which, because the same site can pass one and fail the other.

## Indian waste streams that often break the claim

- Hazardous waste sent to a TSDF for secure landfill under the Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules, 2016 counts as landfilled.
- ETP sludge from textile and chemical units often goes to the same secure landfill.
- Co-processing in cement kilns: check how your scheme treats it before you rely on it.
- Scrap sold to small dealers without weight slips or invoices, and municipal pickup with no record of where it went, are hard to prove as diverted.

## Evidence a validator asks for

- Weighbridge slips or weighed records for every stream, for the full 12 months.
- Recycler and compost buyer invoices showing weights.
- Form 10 manifests for hazardous waste movements.
- Authorisation or registration of the recyclers and processors you use, issued by the State Pollution Control Board or CPCB.

## Worked example: one site, one year, two schemes

- Total waste: 400 tonnes. Recycled 330, composted 30, waste-to-energy 25, landfilled 15
- Counting energy recovery as diverted: (330 + 30 + 25) / 400 = 385 / 400 = 96.25%, in the 95 to 99% tier
- Not counting energy recovery: (330 + 30) / 400 = 360 / 400 = 90%, just at the TRUE threshold
- Moving the 15 tonnes of landfill to recycling would give 100% on the first basis and 93.75% on the second

Figures are illustrative. Hazardous waste sent to a secure landfill belongs in the landfilled total.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps waste contractor invoices in its Scope 3 supplier evidence trail with a SHA-256 fingerprint per file, which helps when a validator asks for disposal records. The diversion audit and the zero waste claim itself come from the scheme's validator.

- [Waste emissions: Scope 3 Category 5](https://senseible.earth/answers/waste-emissions-scope-3-category-5)
- [Hazardous waste from manifests](https://senseible.earth/answers/hazardous-waste-emissions-from-manifest-india)
- [Circular economy and waste](https://senseible.earth/circular-economy)

Sources: [Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 (CPCB)](https://cpcb.nic.in), [Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 (MoEFCC), in force from 1 April 2026, replacing the 2016 Rules](https://moef.gov.in)

Last reviewed 2026-10-17. UL 2799 and TRUE revise their criteria; confirm the current edition, especially how each treats waste-to-energy and co-processing.