Energy recovery
Burning waste to produce heat or electricity, a step below recycling in the waste hierarchy.
Energy recovery means combusting waste in a facility that captures the energy as heat or electricity, such as a waste-to-energy plant or a biomass boiler. EPA reports it separately from recycling: in 2018, 1.65 million tons of wood containers and packaging were combusted with energy recovery.
WARM's combustion factor for dimensional lumber is −0.58 MTCO2E per short ton, mostly from utility emissions displaced by the electricity generated. The Hub's inventory factor is 0.05, since it leaves out the displacement credit.
Whether energy recovery counts as diversion depends on the program. The Pallet Fate Report lets you choose. See combustion and biomass fuel.
Energy recovery from pallets happens either in a waste-to-energy plant, when pallets go out with mixed trash, or in a biomass boiler, when sorted wood is ground and sold as fuel. Only the second gives you a documented tonnage for reporting, because the wood is weighed on its own.
Sources
- Containers and Packaging: Product-Specific Data (wood packaging, 1960–2018) U.S. EPA. Accessed October 27, 2026. Page last updated October 19, 2026; latest data year 2018.
- Documentation for Greenhouse Gas Emission and Energy Factors Used in WARM, Version 16: Construction Materials Chapters, ch. 12 Wood Products (EPA-530-R-23-020) U.S. EPA. Accessed October 27, 2026. Exhibits 12-3 (p. 12-3), 12-9, 12-13, 12-15 and 12-16 (p. 12-10).
- GHG Emission Factors Hub 2025, Table 9 (Scope 3 Category 5 and Category 12) U.S. EPA Center for Corporate Climate Leadership. Accessed October 27, 2026. The 2025 Hub is the latest listed on the Hub page on the access date.