Scope 3 reporting helps you understand and manage carbon emissions across your value chains. Waste data and circularity can drive real progress and reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions. This doesn’t just benefit the planet; it also strengthens the bottom line and the corporate value chain.
Understanding Scope 3 reporting – why it matters for waste and circularity
For a long time, sustainability reporting has largely focused on what organisations can directly control. Measures such as reducing fuel use, switching to renewable electricity, improving heating efficiency, and reducing business travel have been the obvious markers of progress so far. The good news is that these are easy to discuss and change. However, as carbon accountability evolves, some of the biggest challenges lie beyond a company’s core operations.
The real emissions footprint can sit somewhat disguised within the value chain. It can be embedded in materials, logistics, services and waste management (or mismanagement). These indirect emissions can arise from manufacturing and transport, as well as product use and disposal. According to the Carbon Trust, the emissions from upstream and downstream activities, such as purchasing goods and services or the overall usage of products, can account for 70-90% of your total carbon footprint. These emissions can be hard to see and control, but they can also offer a significant opportunity for real, meaningful reductions across the business. Every small waste decision can affect the numbers, which is why accurate Scope 3 waste reporting is essential to successful change and climate management.
What does Scope 3 include?
The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol has established a global standardised framework for measuring and managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Scope 1 covers emissions from sources directly owned or controlled by your business, such as vehicles or boilers. The Scope 2 emissions are those indirect emissions from purchased energy. Emissions in Scope 3 include all other indirect emissions across the value chain.
Within Scope 3, there are 15 separate activity types (such as purchased goods and services, transportation and distribution and use of sold products). Altogether, they provide a much more complete picture of an organisation’s climate impact beyond day-to-day operations. CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) has a useful list of relevant Scope 3 categories by sector.
Why Scope 3 reporting matters
With the introduction of new frameworks such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Task Force on Climate‑related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), businesses must now report their total carbon footprint, not just that covered by Scopes 1 and 2. Ignoring Scope 3 risks underreporting. Moreover, criticism from customers and suppliers can create an inaccurate view of the work still to be done.
At the same time, if you embrace full reporting, you can access helpful insights into your operations and a better understanding of your supply chain’s carbon hotspots. This, in turn, supports better decision-making and stronger collaboration with clients. More detailed emissions data can better help direct resources to activities that deliver the greatest benefit.
The importance of accurate waste management reporting within Scope 3
Waste plays a far more significant role in Scope 3 reporting than many of us may realise. Under the GHG Protocol, emissions associated with waste treatment and disposal are classified as Category 5 – Waste generated in operations.
Poorly segregated or contaminated waste can significantly affect emissions upstream. Accurate waste reporting is, therefore, crucial. If you simply view waste as a cost, you risk losing sight of its potential. Treating waste as a data source means you’re able to use it to map efficiency and even unlock sources of revenue in the process.
Waste Mission’s approach to commodity waste management turns this principle into practice. We work with clients to reframe waste management as a resource strategy. We help gain actionable insights that link your carbon performance directly to your operational efficiency and discover additional revenue streams from your waste.
Measuring what matters
The GHG Protocol sets out three guiding principles of relevance, completeness and transparency when it comes to Scope 3 reporting.
The process begins by identifying which Scope 3 categories are most material. This early measurement can rely on financial or activity-based data, covering the cost or quantity of materials purchased and used. Over time, this can be enhanced with supplier‑specific data or lifecycle assessments that account for actual emissions performance.
Collaboration across the supply chain is essential for good data reporting. Asking suppliers to disclose their data and incorporating sustainability metrics into tenders helps improve accuracy and creates shared accountability. The same applies to choosing waste contractors.
Digital tools for data-driven waste reporting
The digitalisation of waste management is transforming emissions tracking. Waste Mission’s Customer Portal gives you live access to your waste collection records, tonnages and recycling data across multiple sites. This visibility supports transparent Scope 3 reporting, enabling you to connect your operational performance directly to your carbon outcomes. These tools help streamline reporting processes, support consistent benchmarking, and demonstrate whether you’re making improvements.
Encouraging circularity
As many businesses work toward a circular economy, Scope 3 reporting is a great way to embed circularity into strategy. Linking material flow and waste data to emissions accountability enables companies to identify where to act on sourcing sustainable materials, extending product lifecycles, and recovering resources. This circularity extends to how waste is managed and repurposed.
Practical steps for Scope 3 reporting
If you’re starting a Scope 3 programme in your business, your first action should be to map the 15 GHG Protocol categories against your existing business activities. This helps determine those areas that contribute most to your total footprint. The next step is to collect the available data, prioritising short-term spend or activity‑based metrics while improving data quality over time.
The next step is good collaboration. Engage your key suppliersand logistics providers, and find reputable waste specialists. Integrating waste and materials reporting into your corporate sustainability frameworks ensures your progress is measured consistently and accurately. Digital tools such as the Waste Mission Customer Portal can then centralise this data, creating one system of record for all emissions data.
Scope 3 reporting is a big shift in how businesses can view their environmental impact. It encourages organisations to consider their responsibilities beyond their direct operations and to cooperate across the value chain, which in turn benefits the bottom line.
By fully integrating waste and resource data into Scope 3 analysis, businesses can turn compliance reporting into purposeful work to reduce carbon emissions and work towards a genuinely circular economy.
If you’re unsure where to start with your Scope 3 reporting or how it relates to your waste management, why not book a portal demonstration to learn more? Our team can help identify opportunities to recover, reuse, or recycle materials more effectively, and flag waste that may be overlooked when using multiple suppliers.
