This guide explains the concepts. The request that sends wastes, with its fields, limits and errors, is
Create Wastes (v2), and the Quickstart walks
through a complete example.
Understanding Scope 3 Category 5
Waste generated in operations covers emissions from third-party disposal and treatment of waste generated in your organization’s owned or controlled operations. According to the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard, Category 5 includes:- Landfill disposal: Emissions from decomposition of waste in landfills
- Incineration: Emissions from burning waste (with or without energy recovery)
- Recycling: Emissions from processing waste for material recovery
- Composting: Emissions from biological treatment of organic waste
- Waste transport: Emissions from transporting waste to treatment facilities
Category 5 vs Other Waste-Related Emissions
- Category 5: Waste generated in your operations, treated by third parties
- Category 12: End-of-life treatment of products you sell (downstream)
- Scope 1: Waste treatment at facilities you own/control (e.g., on-site incineration)
Prerequisites
Before starting, make sure you have:- An API key and your organization ID (Get an API Key)
- Completed Step 1: Company Structure
- The facilities that generate the waste, created in Dcycle (Create Facilities (v2))
- Waste manifests, transfer notes or invoices from your waste manager
The Data You Need
The codes and the facility travel as Dcycle ids: Find the ids you send
says where to look each one up. The emissions of a waste are those of its treatment (its quantity × the waste
emission factor) plus those of its transport to the plant, calculated from the distance. How the emissions are calculated has the exact
rules.
Understanding Waste Codes
LER Codes (European List of Waste)
The LER code (also called LoW code) identifies the type of waste according to the European List of Waste: six digits with no spaces (150101, not 15 01 01). Common examples:
Hazardous WasteLER codes ending with an asterisk (*) indicate hazardous waste. The asterisk is part of the code. These typically
have different emission factors and require special handling documentation.
R/D Codes (Treatment Methods)
The R/D code identifies the treatment: R (Recovery) or D (Disposal) followed by two digits (R03, not R3).
List R/D Codes has every code Dcycle accepts. Common ones:
Recovery Operations (R codes):
Disposal Operations (D codes):
When the R/D Code is UnknownA single LER code can be treated in several ways, each with its own emission factor. Without an R/D code, Dcycle
prices the waste with a conservative default factor (in DEFRA, its landfill factor) when the treatment is unknown.
A recovery treatment usually has a lower factor, so send the R/D code whenever your waste management documentation
gives it. How the emissions are calculated has the exact rule.
Emission Factor Sources
Dcycle prices each waste with the emission factor of its LER + R/D pair, for each year of the waste period:- DEFRA (UK Government GHG Conversion Factors), by default.
- OCCC (Oficina Catalana del Canvi Climàtic), for a code DEFRA does not cover.
- Your own factor, a custom emission factor record sent as
custom_ef_record_id, when your waste manager gives you a measured one.
description is matched to the closest factor of DEFRA and OCCC.
The transport to the treatment plant is calculated from total_km_to_waste_center with a freight factor, DEFRA’s
heavy goods vehicle by default, chosen in the Dcycle app, in the emission factors panel. Without a distance, the waste
has no transport emissions.
How the emissions are calculated has the exact rules.
Send Your Waste Data
- Find the ids of your facilities and of your LER and R/D codes once, and keep the mapping on your side (Find the ids you send).
- Validate a batch with
?dry_run=true, then send it toPOST /v2/wastes: up to 5,000 wastes per request, all or nothing. - Follow its ingest job with Get Ingest Job, or receive the
ingest_job.finishedwebhook. Its items say which wastes could not be calculated. - Review the results in the Dcycle app, where the wastes, their emissions and their status can be filtered.
Waste documents and spreadsheetsIn the Dcycle app you can also upload the waste manager’s documents, and Dcycle reads them: Spanish DI (Documento de
Identificación), standard European waste manifests and the formats of many waste management companies. It extracts
the LER code, quantity, date and description. A spreadsheet of wastes can be loaded with the app’s import.
Best Practices
1. Track All Waste Streams
Check that every stream of every facility has records for the whole period. A typical office or industrial site has these:2. Prioritize High-Impact Waste
Sort the wastes by their emissions in the Dcycle app. The largest ones sent to disposal (D codes) are the first candidates for recycling or composting.3. Track the Diversion Rate
The diversion rate is the share of the waste quantity sent to recovery operations (R codes) instead of disposal (D codes), as the Dcycle app counts recycled waste. A rate below 50 % leaves a large improvement opportunity; 75 % or more is a common target.Troubleshooting
Issue: LER Code Not Found
Search List LER Codes by code or by words (?search=). Write the code as the
catalog does: six digits with no spaces, keeping the trailing * of a hazardous waste (15 01 01 is 150101). A
waste whose source data has no LER code can be sent with a description or with your own factor instead
(How the emissions are calculated).
Issue: Unknown Treatment Method
List R/D Codes withler_code_id lists the treatments that have an emission factor
for that LER code. A pair outside that list is stored but does not calculate. Without an R/D code, Dcycle prices the
waste with a conservative default factor (see How the emissions are calculated).
Issue: Category 5 Seems Too Low
Common reasons for underreported waste emissions:- Missing waste streams: check that every facility is tracked.
- Incomplete periods: make sure the whole year is covered.
- Missing transport: send
total_km_to_waste_centerwhere you know it. - Contractor waste: include the waste of on-site contractors.
- Construction waste: don’t forget renovation and construction debris.
Next Steps
Create Wastes (v2)
The request that sends wastes to Dcycle
Facilities Tutorial
Complete facility management guide
Category 1: Purchased Goods
Track upstream product emissions
Scope 3 Overview
Back to all Scope 3 categories