Waste

All human activity eventually leads to the production of waste in one form or another, and as most, if not all human activity is the cause of GHG emissions, any waste stream also represents ‘wasted emissions’. Some waste streams have a higher profile than others. Plastic is a good example of a waste stream that has high attention because of its penetration of food chains, non-degradability and sheer volume. However, it may not be a large source of GHG emissions relative to its size. The analysis of emissions reduction potentials in waste reduction, management and treatment can therefore not only be relevant in most sectors but also complex.

The common approach in waste handling follows the hierarchy ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, but there is no equally good methodological basis for calculating emissions for all aspects of waste management in all sectors. The following is therefore an overview of what is methodologically supported. The sectors that are not mentioned, for instance, plastic, are not underpinned by methodologies and will therefore require considerable extra resources for calculating the emissions reduction potential.

Instead, the different kinds of waste are categorized under:

• Agricultural waste
• Liquid waste
• Solid waste

Agricultural waste is separated because there are a plethora of methodologies underpinning different kinds of waste streams in agricultural production, be it agriculture, horticulture or husbandry. Some of these are also included under liquid waste in which case links are cross-referenced.