Waste Diversion and Carbon Savings: Measuring Impact with MeasureUp
Posted: October 22, 2025
When most of us hear the word “waste,” we picture overflowing bins, landfills, or smoke from incinerators. But waste management today is no longer just about getting rid of rubbish. It’s about creating systems that reduce what we throw away, reuse what we can, and recover value from the rest.
What Is Waste Diversion?
Waste diversion means keeping waste out of landfills and incinerators by sending it to recycling, composting, or reuse instead. The benefits are clear:
- Less waste buried or burned
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
- Conservation of natural resources
- Cleaner air and water
By diverting waste, communities and organisations can manage resources more wisely and build a more sustainable future.
Why It Matters
The world produces over 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste every year, according to the World Bank, and that number is growing. In the UK alone, 191.2 million tonnes of waste were generated in 2020, with England making up the majority.
Poor waste management can lead to:
- Rising greenhouse gas emissions
- Pollution that harms ecosystems and health
- Lost economic value when recyclable materials end up in landfills
The good news is that better waste management isn’t just about protecting the environment, it also creates new social and economic opportunities. For example, by valuing the benefits of avoided emissions or improved air quality, organisations can make smarter choices and show accountability in their reporting.
MeasureUp helps quantify the carbon value of this shift — showing exactly how much CO₂e is saved by moving up the waste hierarchy.
Measuring Value: The Role of MeasureUp
MeasureUp waste management values are based on CarbonWARM2, the latest version of the Carbon Waste and Resources Metric developed by WRAP for DEFRA. This tool provides conversion factors that calculate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from different waste management methods, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
There are 5 different waste management activities takes place in the MeasureUp:
EN2.1 Waste Diversion from Landfill
Note: CarbonWARM2 is not intended for reporting Scope 3 emissions. For guidance on GHG accounting and the three scopes of emissions, see MeasureUp EN1 Measuring Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions.
Practical Applications of MeasureUp
The waste management values within MeasureUp can be applied in several ways.
- They allow organisations to track and report CO2e savings achieved by moving waste management practices higher up the hierarchy.
- They can also be used to assess how much of the potential savings has been captured through current practices and to model and compare the greenhouse gas impacts of different waste management scenarios.
This makes the MeasureUp values especially valuable for local authorities, waste management companies, policymakers, and other stakeholders who are working to cut emissions and advance climate action goals.
Rethinking waste means shifting from a “throwaway” mindset to a resource recovery approach. Every item we recycle, compost, or repurpose helps conserve resources, cut emissions, and protect ecosystems.
Whether you’re an organisation aiming to improve your sustainability reporting or an individual making small daily choices, the message is the same: waste is not just waste—it’s a resource waiting to be recovered.
Example: Comparing Landfill Emissions and Recycling Savings
A construction company is assessing the environmental impact of waste in landfill and Closed loop recycling, source separated.
The material type, tonnes of waste, tCO2 emissions per tonnes of waste and monetised values are shown below. The positive value represents a carbon emission, while negative values represent a carbon saving.
Monetised values are calculated by using the Carbon values per tonne of CO2 as £252 per tonne.
| Construction | Landfill | Closed loop recycling, source separated | |||
| Material | Tonnes of Waste | tCO2 per tonne of waste | Monetised Value | tCO2 per tonne of waste | Monetised Value |
| Glass | 50 | 0.004 | (50×0.004) ×£252 = £50.40 | -0.571 | (50 × -0.571) × £252 = -£7,191.06 |
| Steel | 100 | 0.004 | (100×0.004) ×£252 = £100.80 | -1.234 | (100 × -1.234) × £252 = -£31,096.80 |
| Aluminium | 100 | 0.004 | (100×0.004) ×£252 = £100.80 | -7.454 | (100 × -7.454) × £252 = -£187,840.80 |
| PET rigid | 500 | 0.004 | (500×0.004) ×£252 = £504.00 | -0.918 | (500 × -0.918) × £252 = -£115,668.00 |
| Total | £756.00 | – £341,796.66 | |||
- Landfill produces 3 tCO₂ emissions, which costs £756.
- But recycling the same waste avoids 1,356 tCO₂, translating into an impressive £341,797 in carbon savings.
- Aluminium shows the highest savings potential (over £187k), reflecting the significant energy and emissions reductions when metals are recycled instead of extracted from raw materials.
- PET plastics and steel also contribute substantial savings, underlining how critical material recovery is for both emissions’ reduction and resource efficiency.
Takeaway: Even though landfill appears to have “low” direct emissions in this dataset, the opportunity cost is huge—by landfilling instead of recycling, the company loses out on over 1,350 tCO₂ of savings and more than £341k in monetised environmental value. Recycling delivers orders of magnitude greater climate benefits than disposal.