Module reference · EPA WARM v16
Waste Data
Waste is the module where a flat factor isn't enough: the same tonne has very different results depending on how it's managed. Slate runs the EPA Waste Reduction Model v16 and compares a baseline against an alternative.
- Model
- EPA WARM v16
- Materials
- 61 types in 11 categories
- Pathways
- 6 management pathways
- Outputs
- GHG, energy, labour, wages and taxes
Material categories
These are Slate's seeded categories, with a representative slice of the material types.
| Category | Includes |
|---|---|
| Paper | Corrugated containers, magazines, newspaper, office paper, phonebooks, textbooks, three mixed grades |
| Food waste | Food waste (all, non-meat, meat), beef, poultry, grains, bread, fruits and vegetables, dairy |
| Yard trimmings | Yard trimmings, grass, leaves, branches |
| Plastics | HDPE, LDPE, PET, LLDPE, PP, PS, PVC, mixed |
| Bioplastics | PLA |
| Electronics | Desktop CPUs, portable devices, flat-panel and CRT displays, peripherals, hard-copy devices, mixed |
| Metals | Aluminium cans and ingot, steel cans, copper wire, mixed metals |
| Glass | Glass |
| Construction materials | Asphalt, shingles, carpet, bricks, concrete, lumber, drywall, insulation, fly ash, fiberboard, structural steel, flooring |
| Tires | Tires |
| Mixed materials | Mixed recyclables, mixed organics, mixed MSW |
Management pathways
| Pathway | Meaning |
|---|---|
source_reduction | Avoided material through reduced consumption or lightweighting (alternative scenario only) |
recycled | Diverted into recycling |
landfilled | Disposal, with configurable landfill-gas recovery and collection assumptions |
combusted | Waste-to-energy or mass-burn combustion |
composted | Organics composted, with a moisture condition |
anaerobically_digested | Organics digested; defaults to WARM's dry digestion with curing |
Analyses, records and results
An analysis is a named container for a facility and period. It holds records, one per material and pathway, for a baseline and an alternative scenario. Calculating produces GHG, energy, labour, wages and tax outputs per record and rolled up, plus the incremental difference.
short tons = (value × unit.si_conversion) ÷ 907.1847
- 907.1847
- kilograms in one short ton
WARM works in short tons, so every entry is converted before calculation. The default entry unit is Short Ton.