CarbonTiers · User guide
Waste Tool User Guide
Waste Emissions Inventory & Scenario Modelling Tool
2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories — Volume 5: Waste
This guide explains how to build a waste-sector greenhouse gas inventory in the tool: the country profile, the first-order decay (FOD) model for solid waste disposal and the historical-series backcast, biological treatment, incineration and open burning, domestic and industrial wastewater, CRF Table 5 results, scenario modelling and reporting. Every count and factor table in it is generated from the calculation engines the tool runs on.
- 4
- calculation modules
- 215
- country profiles
- 15
- domestic wastewater pathways
- 16
- waste mitigation options
- Version
- 1.0
- Last reviewed
- 17 October 2026
- Current edition
- carbontiers.com/calculator/waste/guide
This guide is updated with the tool. Counts and factor tables are generated from the registries the tool calculates with. The latest edition is always at the address above.
1About the tool
The Waste tool calculates CH₄, N₂O and fossil CO₂ from solid waste disposal, composting and anaerobic digestion, incineration and open burning, and domestic and industrial wastewater with the methods of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, Volume 5. It is built for national and subnational inventory teams, municipalities and waste operators in any country. Results come together in the UNFCCC CRF Table 5 structure and carry forward into scenario modelling.
| Module | CRF | Method source | Without a licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Waste Disposal (SWDS) | 5A | IPCC 2006 Vol. 5, Ch. 3 | Open |
| Biological Treatment | 5B | IPCC 2006 Vol. 5, Ch. 4 | Licence required |
| Incineration and Open Burning | 5C | IPCC 2006 Vol. 5, Ch. 5 | Licence required |
| Wastewater Treatment and Discharge | 5D | IPCC 2006 Vol. 5, Ch. 6 | Licence required |
| Inventory | CRF Tablo 5 | UNFCCC CRF Table 5 | Open |
2Quick start
- 1
Complete the inventory profile
On the start sheet, enter the reporting entity, the inventory boundary and the country.
- 2
Set the analysis year and GWP set
Add one or more years; select and confirm AR4, AR5 or AR6.
- 3
Check the country profile
The country selector on the solid waste sheet fills generation rate, composition and climate zone, and protein and BOD on the wastewater sheet.
- 4
Enter the disposal series
Enter annual waste disposed for the FOD model; fill missing historical years with the backcast panel.
- 5
Complete the other modules
Enter composted and digested waste, incinerated waste by type, and wastewater population and treatment pathways.
- 6
Add to inventory
Use Add to Inventory in the bottom bar on each sheet to book the result to the selected year.
- 7
Review and export
Check CRF Table 5 in Results, then download PDF or Excel.
3Start sheet and core settings
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Inventory profile | Reporting entity, inventory boundary and country. Used in the report title and PDF header; shared by all five sector tools. |
| Analysis year | The year or years results are booked to. The solid waste FOD model also uses the disposal series of earlier years. |
| GWP version | The set used to convert CH₄ and N₂O to CO₂e. Changing it later refreshes every calculation. |
| Tier | Chosen above each sheet; Tier 1 by default. |
| IPCC guideline edition | 2006 (default) or the 2019 Refinement. Changes the solid waste, incineration, wastewater and country-profile defaults; biological treatment is unaffected. The setting is shared with the other sector tools. |
| Gas | AR4 | AR5 | AR6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CO₂ | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| CH₄ (fossil) | 25 | 28 | 29.8 |
| CH₄ (biogenic) | 25 | 28 | 27 |
| N₂O | 298 | 265 | 273 |
4Country profile
The Waste tool keeps one country selection for all sheets. The selector loads IPCC defaults for 215 countries: per-capita waste generation, disposal share, composition and a suggested climate zone on the solid waste sheet, and per-capita BOD and protein supply on the wastewater sheet. The selection does not depend on the year and survives a change of inventory year. Set the inventory country on the start sheet and confirm it here.
- Where IPCC publishes country values, the 2006 Annex 2A.1 values (year 2000) are used, or Table 2A.1 (year 2010) under the 2019 Refinement. Other countries receive the Table 2.1 regional average.
- Each value carries a badge with its source and year. They are not measurements; if you have your own characterisation study, overwrite the value and the selector switches to “custom”.
- Table 2.1 has no Western Asia row, so that sub-region is mapped to Southern Europe and flagged as approximate.
- The climate zone is suggested from the country’s latitude and rainfall; confirm it with your own MAP/PET data.
| Region | Generation (t/cap/yr) | Disposal | Incineration | Composting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Asia | 0.37 | 55% | 26% | 1% |
| South-Central Asia | 0.21 | 74% | 0% | 5% |
| South-East Asia | 0.27 | 59% | 9% | 5% |
| Africa | 0.29 | 69% | 0% | 0% |
| Eastern Europe | 0.38 | 90% | 4% | 1% |
| Northern Europe | 0.64 | 47% | 24% | 8% |
| Southern Europe | 0.52 | 85% | 5% | 5% |
| Western Europe | 0.56 | 47% | 22% | 15% |
| North America | 0.65 | 58% | 6% | 6% |
| Caribbean | 0.49 | 83% | 2% | 0% |
| Central America | 0.21 | 50% | 0% | 0% |
| South America | 0.26 | 54% | 1% | 0% |
| Oceania | 0.69 | 85% | 0% | 0% |
5Solid waste disposal (5A)
Calculates methane from the anaerobic decay of organic matter in disposal sites. Waste keeps producing gas for years after it is deposited, so this year’s emissions depend on what was disposed of in earlier years.
| Tier | Method |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Single-year mass balance (IPCC §3.2.3); does not use historical data. |
| Tier 2 | First-order decay (FOD) model with the historical disposal series (Eq. 3.1–3.7). |
| Tier 3 | Requires site-specific measurement data; not calculated in the tool. |
DDOCm = W × DOC × DOCf × MCFCH₄ generated = DDOCm (accumulated) × (1 − e^(−k)) × F × 16/12CH₄ emitted = (CH₄ generated − R) × (1 − OX)- Inputs: annual waste disposed (Gg), composition or waste type, climate zone, shares of disposal-site types (MCF), CH₄ recovery (%) and oxidising cover.
- Backcast: takes the years you have as anchors and derives the missing years from population and per-capita income series. The derived series is previewed first and written only on a separate confirmation; years you entered are always kept.
- Bulk entry: import the annual disposal series with the Excel/CSV template.
- Under the 2019 Refinement, MCF can be derived from measured landfill gas composition (Annex 3A.2, Eq. 3Ap.1).
| Waste type | Boreal/Temp Dry (MAP/PET<1) | Boreal/Temp Wet (MAP/PET>1) | Tropical Dry (MAP<1000 mm) | Tropical Moist/Wet (MAP≥1000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper & Textiles (slowly degrading) | 0.040 | 0.060 | 0.045 | 0.070 |
| Wood & Straw (slowly degrading) | 0.020 | 0.030 | 0.025 | 0.035 |
| Garden & Park Waste (moderate) | 0.050 | 0.100 | 0.065 | 0.170 |
| Food & Sludge (rapidly degrading) | 0.060 | 0.185 | 0.085 | 0.400 |
| Bulk Waste (bulk average) | 0.050 | 0.090 | 0.065 | 0.170 |
| Component | DOC (Gg C/Gg waste) |
|---|---|
| Paper & Cardboard | 0.40 |
| Textiles | 0.24 |
| Food Waste | 0.15 |
| Wood | 0.43 |
| Garden & Park Waste | 0.20 |
| Nappies | 0.24 |
| Rubber & Leather | 0.39 |
| Plastics | — |
| Metal | — |
| Glass | — |
| Other (inert) | — |
| Site type | MCF 2006 | MCF 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Managed — Anaerobic | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Managed well — Semi-aerobic | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Managed poorly — Semi-aerobic | — | 0.7 |
| Managed well — Active aeration | — | 0.4 |
| Managed poorly — Active aeration | — | 0.7 |
| Unmanaged — Deep (≥5 m) / high water table | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Unmanaged — Shallow (<5 m) | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Uncategorised | 0.6 | 0.6 |
6Biological treatment (5B)
Calculates CH₄ and N₂O from composting and anaerobic digestion. The primary datum is the wet mass of waste treated; methane recovered at a digester can be netted off.
CH₄ = Σ (M_i × EF_i) × 10⁻³ − RN₂O = Σ (M_i × EF_i) × 10⁻³| Treatment | CH₄ (range) | N₂O (range) |
|---|---|---|
| Composting (Aerobic) | 4.0 (0.03–8) | 0.30 (0.06–0.6) |
| Anaerobic Digestion | 1.0 (0.00–8) | Negligible |
7Incineration and open burning (5C)
Calculates fossil CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O from incineration without energy recovery and from open burning. Waste types: Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Industrial Solid Waste, Clinical Waste, Sewage Sludge, Fossil Liquid Waste.
CO₂ = Σ (SW_i × dm_i × CF_i × FCF_i × OF_i) × 44/12| Technology | CH₄ |
|---|---|
| Continuous — Stoker | 0.2 |
| Semi-continuous — Stoker | 6 |
| Batch — Stoker | 60 |
| Continuous — Fluidised Bed | 0 |
| Semi-continuous — Fluidised | 188 |
| Batch — Fluidised Bed | 237 |
| Open Burning | 6,500 |
For open burning of municipal solid waste the oxidation factor is 0.58 under the 2006 Guidelines and 0.71 under the 2019 Refinement. With 2019 selected, CH₄ factors for pyrolysis and melting reactors (shaft, fluidised bed, rotary kiln) are also available.
8Wastewater treatment (5D)
Calculates CH₄ from domestic and industrial wastewater and N₂O from effluent. For domestic wastewater the main inputs are population, per-capita BOD from the country selector and the split of the population across treatment pathways.
TOW = Population × BOD × 0.001 × I × 365CH₄ = (TOW − S) × Σ (U × T_j × B₀ × MCF_j) − R| Treatment or discharge pathway | MCF |
|---|---|
| Untreated — Sea/River Discharge | 0.1 |
| Stagnant Open Sewer | 0.5 |
| Flowing Sewer (Open Channel) | 0.1 |
| Flowing Sewer (Closed Channel) | 0.0 |
| Aerobic WWTP — Well Managed | 0.0 |
| Aerobic WWTP — Overloaded | 0.3 |
| Anaerobic Digester (Sludge) | 0.8 |
| Anaerobic Reactor | 0.8 |
| Anaerobic Shallow Lagoon (<2 m) | 0.2 |
| Anaerobic Deep Lagoon (≥2 m) | 0.8 |
| Septic System | 0.5 |
| Latrine — Dry, Small (3-5 persons) | 0.1 |
| Latrine — Dry, Communal | 0.5 |
| Latrine — Wet, High Water Table | 0.7 |
| Latrine — Regular Sediment Removal | 0.1 |
| Sector | Wastewater (m³/t product) | COD (kg/m³) |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol Refining | 24.0 | 11.0 |
| Beer & Malt | 6.3 | 2.9 |
| Dairy Products | 7.0 | 2.7 |
| Meat & Poultry | 13.0 | 4.1 |
| Organic Chemicals | 67.0 | 3.0 |
| Pulp & Paper | 162.0 | 9.0 |
| Starch Production | 9.0 | 10.0 |
| Veg., Fruits & Juices | 20.0 | 5.0 |
| Sugar Refining | 11.0 | 3.2 |
| Petroleum Refineries | 0.6 | 1.0 |
- N₂O: calculated from wastewater nitrogen derived from protein supply; effluent factor 0.005 kg N₂O-N/kg N (Eq. 6.7).
- With the 2019 Refinement selected a separate panel opens: N₂O from treatment plants, CH₄ by discharge environment (MCF) and an effluent factor of 0.019 kg N₂O-N/kg N for nutrient-impacted waters.
9Results and CRF Table 5
Everything added to the inventory comes together in Results in the CRF Table 5 structure: solid waste disposal (5A), biological treatment (5B), incineration (5C), wastewater (5D) and the waste total, by gas and as CO₂e with the selected GWP set.
| View | Content |
|---|---|
| Overview | Totals and category shares for the selected year |
| Table | CRF Table 5 breakdown: CH₄, N₂O, CO₂ and CO₂e by category |
| Trend | CO₂e across recorded years |
| Compare | Category breakdown of the selected year |
10Scenario modelling
The Scenario module projects forward from the waste results in your inventory; a scenario cannot be built on an empty inventory.
- BAU scenario: built from a growth rate or a year-by-year activity projection.
- Mitigation scenario: shows the deviation at milestone years from measures chosen among 16 waste options (Annex A), covering landfill gas capture, diverting organics from disposal, composting and digestion, wastewater treatment and circular-economy measures.
- Years between milestones are filled with the method you choose: linear, exponential, S-curve, polynomial, step or custom.
- Outputs: scenario comparison table and pathway charts (Excel and PNG).
11Saving, importing and exporting
| Action | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Add to Inventory | Bottom bar | Books the worksheet result to the selected year. |
| Save / Sessions | Top toolbar | Saves the session in your browser; the folder icon reopens earlier sessions. |
| Work file (.ghgwork) | Sessions | Downloads every input as a file you can import on another device. |
| Disposal series import | Solid waste disposal | Loads the annual disposal series with the Excel/CSV template. |
| PDF report and Excel | Results | CRF Table 5 report with header block, and the workbook. |
During a trial or without a licence you can calculate, save and preview the report as a watermarked PDF. Excel, image and unwatermarked PDF outputs need a paid licence. Work files and blank import templates are always available.
12Worked examples
Example 1 — Composting plant, Tier 1. 10,000 t of wet waste composted a year.
CH₄ = 10,000 t × 4.0 g/kg = 40.0 t CH₄N₂O = 10,000 t × 0.30 g/kg = 3.0 t N₂OCO₂e (AR5) = 40.0 × 28 + 3.0 × 265 = 1,915 t CO₂eExample 2 — City wastewater, Tier 1. A city of 1,000,000 people at 60 g BOD/person/day (Table 6.4, Canada/Europe/Russia) with industrial co-collection; 90% connected to a well-managed aerobic plant and 10% on septic systems.
TOW = 1,000,000 × 60 × 0.001 × 1.25 × 365 = 27,375,000 kg BODCH₄ = 27,375,000 × 0.6 × (0.9 × 0.0 + 0.1 × 0.5) = 821.3 t CH₄CO₂e (AR5) = 821.3 × 28 = 22,995 t CO₂e13Verification and quality control
| Check | Expectation |
|---|---|
| FOD series | The disposal series reaches back several decades; missing years filled with the backcast |
| Site-type shares | MCF shares add up to 100% |
| Wastewater pathways | Population split across pathways adds up to 100% |
| Country values | Annex 2A.1 values are for 2000 and 2010; replace them if you have current national data |
| Category boundary | Incineration with energy recovery and landfill-gas energy belong to energy |
| Year-on-year trend | Sudden jumps need a justification |
14Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Disposal emissions very low | Series only covers recent years | Fill earlier years with the backcast panel and use Tier 2 (FOD) |
| Country values changed | The country selector moved to another country | Check the selector on the solid waste sheet |
| Wastewater CH₄ is zero | Whole population on pathways with MCF 0 | Check the pathway split |
| Module or tier locked | Licence or trial limit | See the pricing page for plan details |
15Glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| SWDS | Solid waste disposal site |
| FOD | First-order decay model |
| DOC / DOCf | Degradable organic carbon / the fraction of it that decomposes |
| MCF | Methane correction (conversion) factor |
| k | Decay rate constant (yr⁻¹) |
| OX | Oxidation factor of the cover layer |
| TOW | Total organics in wastewater (kg BOD) |
| BOD / COD | Biochemical / chemical oxygen demand |
| B₀ | Maximum methane-producing capacity |
| I | Correction factor for industrial co-collection |
| CRF | Common Reporting Format used for UNFCCC reporting |
16References
- IPCC (2006). 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 5: Waste — Chapters 2–6.
- IPCC (2019). 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, Volume 5.
- IPCC AR4 WG1 Table 2.14, AR5 WG1 Table 8.7, AR6 WG1 Table 7.SM.7 — GWP100 values.
- FAO. Per-capita protein supply (wastewater N₂O input).
- UNFCCC. Common Reporting Format, Table 5 (Waste).
Annex A — Waste mitigation options
| Code | Measure | CRF | Typical reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| W01 | Landfill Gas Capture & Energy (LFG-to-Energy) | 5A | 60–90 % |
| W02 | Biocover / Landfill Biofilter | 5A | 10–35 % |
| W03 | Organic Waste Landfill Diversion Ban | 5A | 50–80 % |
| W04 | Recycling Rate Increase | 5A | 10–35 % |
| W05 | Composting Scale-Up | 5A | 40–70 % |
| W06 | Anaerobic Digestion Facilities | 5A | 65–90 % |
| W07 | Waste-to-Energy (WtE Incineration) | 5A | 20–55 % |
| W08 | Mechanical-Biological Treatment (MBT) | 5A | 25–55 % |
| W09 | Switch to Aerobic Wastewater Treatment | 5D | 60–90 % |
| W10 | Biogas Capture from Wastewater Treatment | 5D | 60–85 % |
| W11 | WWTP Energy Efficiency | 5D | 15–30 % |
| W12 | Expanded Sanitation Coverage | 5D | 15–45 % |
| W13 | Industrial Wastewater Pre-Treatment | 5D | 25–55 % |
| W14 | Food Waste Reduction | 5A | 10–25 % |
| W15 | Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) | 5A | 10–25 % |
| W16 | Plastic Reduction & Circular Economy | 5C | 10–30 % |
Revision history
| 17 October 2026 | First edition. |