Carbon Calculated Report:
Qualified Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Client:
Date:
Hout Bay Recycling Company
Report prepared May 24 2012
Acknowledgements
Carbon Calculated would like to thank the following individuals at Hout Bay Recycling Company
for their assistance in collating the required information for this report and in fielding all
questions:
Iming Lin
Nokwanda Sontyantya
Jemimah Birch
Anton Cartwright (Credible Carbon)
Nic Wiid (Trashback)
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
Overview of HBRC avoided carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions
Reporting period: January 2008 – March 2012
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
Carbon footprint calculation conducted on: Waste collection and recycling operations of Hout
Bay Recycling Co-op
Methodology: Greenhouse Gas Protocol – Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
Waste type
Greenhouse Gases Avoided
Cans
-18,43
Glass
-68,99
IT waste
-0,81
Metal
-267,59
Paper
-82,66
Carboard
-108,68
Plastic
-8,72
Styrofoam
-6,56
Oily plastics/foam
-2,49
Mixed waste
-1 333,01
TOTAL GHG AVOIDED (Metric tonnes CO2e)
- 1897,94
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
Abbreviations and glossary of terms
CO2
Carbon dioxide.
CO2e
Carbon dioxide equivalent – standardisation of all greenhouse gases
to reflect the global warming potential relative to carbon dioxide.
Defra
United Kingdom Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
GHG
Greenhouse gases
GHG Protocol
Greenhouse Gas Protocol – uniform methodology used to calculate
the carbon footprint of an organisation.
IPCC
International Panel on Climate Change
WBCSD
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
WRI
World Resources Institute
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
Table of Content
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................................................. 1
Overview of HBRC avoided carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions ...................................................... 2
Abbreviations and glossary of terms ............................................................................................................................... 4
Table of Content ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Section A: Introduction........................................................................................................................................................... 6
Section B: Background information .................................................................................................................................. 8
1.
Project description ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
2.
Verification objectives................................................................................................................................................ 8
3.
Approach to verification ........................................................................................................................................... 9
4.
Limitations and assumptions............................................................................................................................... 11
Section C: Findings ................................................................................................................................................................ 13
5.
5
Audit of records ........................................................................................................................................................ 13
Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
6.
Greenhouse Gas Calculations.............................................................................................................................. 14
7.
Verification of additional questions ................................................................................................................. 14
8.
Contact person/s ...................................................................................................................................................... 15
References ................................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Appendix A: About Carbon Calculated ........................................................................................................................ 17
Section A: Introduction
Carbon Calculated has been asked to quantify the tonnage of greenhouse gas emissions avoided
due to the waste collection and recycling activities of the Hout Bay Recycling Co-op (HBRC)
between 2008 and March 2012. These are emissions that would have taken place if:
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
i.
the waste had been sent to landfill and been amalgamated into general landfill waste
greenhouse gas emissions
ii. new virgin material was required (extracted or manufactured) in the development of
products into which the waste was recycled, e.g. virgin plastic being displaced by the
recycled plastic in the manufacture of new plastic goods.
These avoided emissions have been calculated using the greenhouse gas conversion factors
provided by the United Kingdom’s national Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra), August 2011 for different streams of waste disposal. The Defra factors have been used in
lieu of any South African-specific waste disposal factors being available. It is important to note
that, as such, these figures of avoided emissions are indicative and would be more accurate if
South African factors were available.
In order to verify the authenticity of the claims of HBRC, records of waste collection over the
entire period have been audited. This required a random spot check of a minimum of 10 per cent
of records in which recorded waste was verified against collection receipts. HBRC has, in addition,
contacted the waste collection service providers to ascertain whether the collected waste is used
in closed loop recycling (same kinds of goods) or open loop (used in the manufacture of other
types of goods). Where service providers could not be contacted, it was assumed the waste was
used in open loop recycling.
The results of the audit proved that all records of collection claimed by HBRC can be reasonably
verified with appropriate and accurate collection receipts.
Finally, in line with the request from the Credible Carbon Project Summary note, and the Credible
Carbon Registry requirements, Carbon Calculated has also been asked to verify whether:
i.
the project is real
ii. the described technology, of HBRC, is in place and functioning in accordance with its
design specification
iii. there is discernible impact on poverty.
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
Section B: Background information
1. Project description
The HBRC is a community-driven waste collection and recycling initiative in Cape Town’s Hout
Bay area. It relies on the collection and delivery of waste to its depot outside the settlement of
Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay. HBRC physically separates the waste and prepares it for collection by
a variety of different service suppliers who either reuse or recycle the waste for different
purposes. Income is generated through the sale of the waste to the service suppliers, and
additional benefits are described as:
i.
reducing the total quantity of waste to landfill
ii. increasing recycling
iii. increasing the re-use of materials
iv. immediate income and job creation through the on-sale of waste recycling
v. additional job creation through waste and recycling management companies
vi. a reduction in greenhouse gases
vii. setting of a replicable precedent for community-driven waste recycling solutions.
2. Verification objectives
The objectives of this verification exercise can be described as follows:
i. Quantify the greenhouse gas savings as a result of the project’s activities
ii. Audit the waste collection receipts to verify the quantity of waste material that was sent for
recycling and, to the best ability, confirm that the waste was recycled
iii. Verify that the project is real
iv. Verify that the project’s described technology is in place and functioning according to its
design specifications
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
v. Comment in whether the project has a discernible impact on poverty.
3. Approach to verification
3.1.
Approach to calculation
Carbon Calculated utilised the carbon conversion factors as supplied by Defra, August 2011
(Annex 9), to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions avoided through HBRC’s recycling activities.
Defra provide conversion factors for different waste streams according to emissions by waste not
going to landfill and emissions avoided through the displacement of virgin material for goods
that incorporate recycled components.
Carbon Calculated totaled the sum of the different waste types and apportioned the most
applicable conversion factor to the specific waste (see Section 6.2.)
“The waste emission (conversion) factors are based on a life cycle assessment and include not
only the carbon costs of treating and transporting waste, but also the potential benefits where
primary resource extraction or electricity generation are offset with energy recovery. The impact
of waste prevention is calculated on the embodied energy in primary material and therefore
inherently assumes the offsetting of virgin material.”
Defra, Guidelines to Defra/DECC’s GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, August 2011
It is important to highlight that much of HBRC’s activities required waste separation on site and
that the separated waste was collected accordingly. However, there were large volumes of waste
that were not separated on site and was collected as mixed waste for recycling. In these
instances, Carbon Calculated has applied a mixed waste municipal waste recycling conversion
factor as it is not possible to determine the waste profile of such volumes of mixed waste over
such a lengthy period of time.
3.2.
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Emissions of each GHG
Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
All emissions are calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent gases (CO2e), as required by the GHG
Protocol.
Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)
Due to the varying ability of greenhouse gases to trap heat in the atmosphere, some are more
harmful to the climate than others. Each greenhouse gas has a “global warming potential” (GWP),
which refers to its heat trapping potential relative to that of CO2. Therefore, to provide a
comparable final figure, all emissions are reported as a relative figure to CO2, i.e. as CO2e values.
The six main greenhouse gases covered by the GHG Protocol and reported as CO2e are:

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Methane (CH4)

Nitrous oxide (N20)

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Perflourocarbons (PFCs)

Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The GHG Protocol
The GHG Protocol is a multiple-stakeholder partnership of business, NGOs and governments led
by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD). It is the best source of information about corporate GHG accounting and
reporting, and draws on the expertise and contributions of individuals and organisations from
around the world.
The GHG Protocol is the most widely used standard for mandatory and voluntary GHG
Programmes and is compatible with other international GHG standards such as ISO14064. It is
also analogous to the generally accepted financial accounting standards for companies’
consistent accounting reporting purposes.
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
3.3.
Approach to audit
HBRC has maintained impeccable records of all collections made over the reporting period. These
are stored in order of waste collection service provider, type of waste collected, weight of waste
collected and date of collection.
This information was used to populate a spreadsheet in which HBRC recorded total mass of
waste collected for recycling.
Carbon Calculated has undertaken a random spot audit (10%) verifying the total wastes reported
against actual waste collection receipts. The spot checks did not contain any bias towards type of
waste collected or date of collection.
Year of record
No. of collection entries
No. of entries verified
2008
168
17
2009
210
17
2010
205
20
2011
197
23
2012
21
2
TOTAL
801
79
4. Limitations and assumptions
4.1.
General
It has to be acknowledged that the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions from waste disposal
is an imperfect science that is constantly being improved as life-cycle assessments of materials is
better understood. These conversion factors can, in fact, significantly change year on year.
It is also a general limitation that there are no South African-specific waste disposal conversion
factors that take into account South African environmental conditions. Hence, Defra is used as the
most reliable source for applicable conversion factors.
4.2.
Specific
4.2.1. – On-site weighting
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
It is assumed that the weighing apparatus at HBRC reflects the accurate mass of the
waste collected. In many instances, the collection service provider indicates their own
weight of the waste collected.
4.2.2. – Delivery to recycling plant
It is assumed that the waste, after collection, is actually delivered to places of waste
recycling. In many instances, the point of delivery provides proof of acceptance of
waste (such as Kraaifontein waste depot).
4.2.3. – Waste is recycled
It is assumed that on acceptance, the waste-recycling depot actually recycles the waste
into their final product. HBRC has gone to all lengths to contact the recycling service
providers to attain assurance of such activity.
4.2.4. – Mixed waste
Significant amounts of “mixed” waste was collected for recycling by service providers
such as Wasteplan and Waste Control. It is impossible to determine the exact make-up
of such waste but, due to the fact that the HBRC is collecting from a predominately
residential area, it is assumed that the “mixed” waste is mixed municipal waste, as
described by Defra.
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
Section C: Findings
5. Audit of records
Of the 801 recorded entries of waste collection from HBRC, 79 were randomly checked against
collection receipts. In all instances, except one, relevant and bona fide receipts, indicating mass of
waste being collected were found. In many instances, receipts of payment (based on weight of
waste collected) from the recycling service providers were also viewed, indicating a double
assurance that the weight claimed to be collected was indeed correct. This provides reasonable
assurance that the total claimed mass and type of waste sent for recycling by HBRC is an
accurate and true reflection.
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
6. Greenhouse Gas Calculations
The following avoided greenhouse gas emissions have been calculated as avoided due to the
waste recycling activities of HBRC.
Waste type
Cans
Closest
Open/
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Total
Conversion
GHG
Defra
close
waste
waste
waste
waste
waste
waste
factor (kg
avoided
definition
loop
(tonne)
(tonne)
(tonne)
(tonne)
(tonne)
(tonne)
CO2e/tonne)
Metal:
Close
3,33
1,39
0,00
0,00
0,00
4,71
-3 911
-18,43
1
mixed cans
Glass
Glass
Close
113,30
57,02
2,08
3,60
0,00
176,00
-392
-68,99
IT
Waste
Close
0.59
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,59
-1 374
-0,81
Electrical &
electronic
Metal
Scrap metal
Close
25,04
39,55
25,57
28,17
0,00
118,34
-2 261
-267,59
Paper
Paper &
Close
86,35
25,94
0,00
0,00
0,00
112,30
-736
-82,66
Close
0,00
11,68
61,34
59,56
0,00
132,58
-820
-108,68
Ave. plastics
Close
1,20
0,02
0,00
0,00
0,00
1,22
-1 205
-1,47
board:
paper
Cardboard
Paper &
board:
Board
Plastic
Ave. plastics
Open
10,36
3,31
2,77
6,52
0,00
22,95
-316
-7,25
Styrofoam
Plastics PS
Close
1,37
1,54
1,17
1,22
0,00
5,30
-1 240
-6,56
Oily plastic
Mixed
Close
0,00
1,15
0,33
0,03
0,43
1,95
-1 281
-2,49
/ foam
commercial
Close
0,00
240,40
243,66
140,94
52,00
677,00
-1 969
-1 333,01
241,53
383,19
337,93
240,04
52,434
1 252,92
& industrial
waste
Mix
Mixed
municipal
waste
Totals
-1
897,94
7. Verification of additional questions
7.1.
Is the project real?
Carbon Calculated visited HBRC in Imizamo Yehtu on March 30 2012 and can verify that the
project is in existence.
1 Open loop recycling takes place when goods are recycled back into the same type of good, e.g. glass bottles. Open recycling takes place when the recycled material could
materially differ from the original waste type.
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
7.2.
Is the described technology in place?
The site visit confirmed that waste separation activities are in existence and that weighing of
the waste through the means of basic scales is in operation. Recycling service providers visit
the site and collect the waste from HBRC for recycling purposes.
7.3.
Are the greenhouse gas reductions reasonable in terms of accepted international
standards and unbiased towards buyer or seller?
The calculated greenhouse gas reductions are calculated in accordance with Defra’s GHG
conversion factors for company reporting which, in turn, are developed in accordance with
the GHG Protocol.
The emission reductions are unbiased towards buyer or seller.
7.4.
Is there a discernible impact on poverty?
The project beneficiaries are poor by South African standards and the project makes some
contribution to the alleviation of their poverty or livelihood risk.
8. Contact person/s
Alex Hetherington, Carbon Calculated, Founding Member
alex@carboncalculated.co.za
Telephone: 021 789 2858
Cell: 082 411 3191
Nici Alexander, Carbon Calculated, Founding Member
nici@carboncalculated.co.za
Telephone: 021 789 2858
Cell: 082 549 7930
Anton Cartwright, Credible Carbon
cartwrightanton@gmail.com
Telephone: 021 791 2293
Cell: 084 780 3450
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
References
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1996, The Science of Climate Change, Contribution
of Working Group 1 to the Second Assessment Report 1995, (Eds. JT Houghton et al), Cambridge
University Press
UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), August 2011. Guidelines to
Defra/DECC’s GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, London,
Dhttp://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/reporting/conversion-factors.htm (Accessed May
2012)
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012
Appendix A: About Carbon Calculated
Carbon Calculated is a specialist carbon analysis and advisory company founded in 2008 by Alex
Hetherington and Nici Palmer. Clients include: Sanlam, Santam, Investec, Standard Bank, Foschini,
Hollard Insurance, Deloitte South Africa, BidVest, Mediclinic, Remgro, Rainbow and Nampak.
Carbon Calculated sets aside ten per cent of all turnover to support social and environmental
development projects in South Africa. For more information, please visit www.carboncalculated.co.za
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Client Name: HBRC GHG quantification and project verification
Date: May 24 2012