Scope 3 category 12: end-of-life treatment of sold products

Category 12 "includes emissions from the waste disposal and treatment of products sold by the reporting company", covering "the total expected end-of-life emissions from all products sold in the reporting year". It is part of the 15 Scope 3 categories.

What to include

The activity data is the "Total mass of sold products and packaging from the point of sale by the reporting company", and the guidance says it "should include any packaging and product waste". For many consumer-goods companies packaging is the main contributor.

Method

The calculation "should follow the calculation methods" of category 5, using the mass of products sold instead of your operational waste. For each material:

mass sold × share going to each treatment route (landfill, incineration, recycling, composting) × the factor for that material and route

The shares come from national waste statistics for the countries where you sell, unless you have better data.

Worked example

A company sells products with 100 tonnes of mixed paper and board packaging in the UK. Suppose (for illustration) that 70% is recycled and 30% landfilled. With DESNZ 2026 factors for mixed paper and board:

The landfilled 30% causes 99% of the result, so the end-of-life route assumption matters more than the tonnage. Use published statistics for the shares and cite them.

Recycling and recycled content

The recycling rules described in the category 5 guide apply here too: emissions of recycling processes go to the company that uses the recycled material, and avoided-emission claims are not deducted from the inventory.