Sustainability teams are asked for waste numbers they cannot always produce. This post explains what waste data an ESG report usually needs and what to ask your waste partner to deliver.
Table of Contents
Where waste fits in ESG reporting
Waste shows up in several places: environmental disclosures on materials and waste, greenhouse gas accounting for waste generated in operations (often reported as a Scope 3 category), and circular economy or resource-use topics. Frameworks that ask for it include GRI (the waste standard is GRI 306), CDP, and in the EU the CSRD reporting standards. Check which ones apply to you.
The data you actually need
- Total waste generated, by site and period.
- Waste by stream: landfill, recycling, composting, reuse, donation, hazardous.
- Diversion rate, with the formula stated. See what the waste diversion rate means.
- Where it went: destinations and facility types.
- Documentation: manifests for regulated material, donation receipts, recycling certificates.
Common data problems
- Weights are estimated, not measured, for some streams.
- Different haulers report in different formats.
- Diversion is calculated differently by site.
- Donated and reused material is missing from the totals.
State your method in the report. An honest, documented estimate is better than a precise-looking number you cannot support.
What to ask a waste partner to provide
- Site-level data by stream, monthly or quarterly.
- Which streams are weighed and which are estimated.
- The formula used for diversion.
- Documentation for regulated materials and donations.
- A format your team can load into its reporting tool.
What we measure at Happen Ventures
In 2026, 95% of the 3.4 million pounds Happen Ventures weighed and tracked was diverted from landfill. The programs we measure by weight are donation, chemical reuse, recycling, resale and PPE. Where weights are not captured, we say so and report an estimate, and we recommend you state the same in your own report.
How Happen Ventures helps
Happen Ventures consolidates junk hauling, recycling, donations and hazardous waste under one vendor, which gives you one data source instead of several. See the impact page for how reporting is presented, and donations and reuse for how donated material is documented.
If you are building a waste baseline for a report, send your sites through the contact page.
