Construction and Demolition Waste to Landfill

Construction and demolition waste moves in serious tonnages — a single demolition can outweigh a decade of office general waste. The saving grace is composition: concrete, brick, metal and glass generate no landfill methane, so the mixed C&D stream carries the lowest factor in the NGA waste tables at 0.2 t CO₂-e per tonne on your Scope 3 inventory.

For builders and developers, that low factor cuts both ways: the emissions per tonne are small, but project tonnages are so large that the category still shows up in disclosures.

Quick Verdict

Mixed construction and demolition waste sent to landfill has an emission factor of 0.2 t CO₂-e per tonne under the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts Factors 2025, applying to the 2025–26 reporting year. The generator reports these emissions under Scope 3; the landfill operator reports the direct methane under Scope 1. The low value reflects the largely inert composition — only the timber and packaging fraction decomposes. Volume records convert at 0.39 tonnes per cubic metre. A Scope 3 emissions calculator can apply the factor straight from weighbridge dockets.

How to Calculate Construction and Demolition Waste Emissions

Emissions (t CO₂-e) = Waste to landfill (tonnes) × 0.2

Worked Example 1: Demolition project

A demolition contractor sends 500 tonnes of mixed C&D waste to landfill from a single project.

500 t × 0.2 = 100 t CO₂-e (Scope 3)

Worked Example 2: Commercial fit-out

A fit-out project disposes of 80 tonnes of mixed strip-out waste to landfill.

80 t × 0.2 = 16 t CO₂-e (Scope 3)

Worked Example 3: Skip volumes only

A builder records 200 m³ of C&D waste across a project’s skips. Using the NGA volume-to-mass factor of 0.39 t/m³:

200 m³ × 0.39 t/m³ = 78 t

78 t × 0.2 = 15.6 t CO₂-e (Scope 3)

C&D Waste vs Other Landfill Streams

All factors from NGA Factors 2025, expressed in CO₂-equivalent.

NGER and AASB S2 Reporting

C&D waste emissions are Scope 3 for the generator, so they sit outside NGER thresholds but inside AASB S2 disclosures, which require material Scope 3 categories to be reported — and construction tonnages often make the category material despite the low per-tonne factor. Weighbridge dockets are your audit trail; apply the NGA Factors 2025 value consistently.