Waste Data

Every waste analysis compares a baseline scenario against an alternative one, so the full flow below covers both from the start rather than treating baseline as the only path.

The four tabs

Analyses is your list of analyses. Summary rolls every calculated analysis up into totals. Scenario Analysis is a quick, unsaved what-if tool (see below). Charts is the visual view.

Creating an analysis

1. 1

   Click New Analysis

   Opens the New Waste Analysis dialog.

2. 2

   Fill in Analysis Information

   Analysis Name (required), Description, Prepared By.

3. 3

   Set Reporting Year and Facility

   At the bottom of the form.

4. 4

   Save

   The analysis appears on the Analyses tab, empty until you add records.

Advanced Configuration

A collapsible section in the same form, defaulting to EPA national averages, worth opening if you have site-specific waste management data:

• Landfill Gas Recovery

  National Average, No LFG Recovery, LFG Recovery – Energy, or LFG Recovery – Flared.

• LFG Collection Efficiency

  Typical, Worst-case, Aggressive, or California.

• Moisture Condition

  National Average, Dry, Moderate, Wet, or Bioreactor.

• Anaerobic Digestion Type

  Wet Digestion or Dry Digestion.

• US State

  Free text, used where the calculation is state-sensitive.

• Transport Distances

  Miles to landfill, combustion, recycling, composting and anaerobic digestion facilities.

Two checkboxes round this out: whether digestate is cured before land application, and whether to use a 100% virgin input assumption for source reduction.

Adding material records

Open the analysis and go to its Records tab. Records are split into two sub-tabs, Baseline and Alternative, click Add Material to open the record form.

Baseline vs Alternative, in one form

You pick Category and Material Type once, then a Baseline / Alternative toggle switches which set of pathway-quantity fields you're filling in. If you fill in both before saving, Slate creates both records in one action. The Alternative tab stays disabled until a material is chosen, and once you switch to it, the material selection locks, a note explains it's matching the baseline material, since comparing different materials wouldn't be a meaningful scenario.

Only the pathways that material actually supports show up as fields, recycled, landfilled, combusted, composted, anaerobic digestion, and source reduced (alternative only). The unit selector defaults to Short Ton.

Calculating

Click Calculate on the analysis header. The confirmation dialog tells you plainly what's about to happen: every record in both scenarios gets recalculated, any existing results are overwritten, and current reference-table factors are used. Confirm with Calculate, and a progress percentage shows on the button while the job runs.

Reading the results

The Results tab shows GHG, Energy, Labor, Wages and Taxes for Baseline, Alternative, and the Incremental difference between them, color-coded green for an improvement and red for worse. A callout summarises the net GHG impact of the alternative scenario in plain language. Toggle Full table view for a flatter, denser layout of the same numbers.

The per-pathway breakdown

Scenario Analysis: quick what-ifs

A separate, faster tool for exploring ideas without building a full alternative analysis. Pick an already-calculated analysis, then use four sliders, increase recycling rate, decrease landfill rate, increase composting rate, and energy recovery efficiency, to see an estimated impact on total waste, emissions, avoided emissions, cost and energy generated.