Carbon footprinting in the UK waste management sector

The UK waste management sector is under increasing pressure to measure, report and manage its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In recent years, it has become common for large waste management companies to report their annual “carbon footprint” and a sector-specific standard has been developed, the EpE Protocol. In this paper, we have critically evaluated approaches taken within the waste management sector to measure, report and verify its carbon footprint. Although the EpE Protocol has been made freely available, its use has been limited. With no commonly-agreed sector-specific standard, carbon footprinting has become highly subjective. This has resulted in high levels of inconsistency between companies and the reporting of inaccurate, incomplete and non-comparable carbon footprints. Consequently, calculated carbon footprint information is ineffective in guiding corporate GHG management. There is a need for a robust, transparent, commonly-agreed waste management sector-specific standard that facilitates accurate, measurement, reporting and verification of organisational GHG emission