Record waste in transport and logistics: what does your processor provide?
A sustainability reporting questionnaire regularly asks about waste and materials: how much waste is generated, is it separated, and what happens to it. For a transport or logistics company, the good news is that you usually already have this data somewhere, without needing to collect it specifically for this questionnaire. Your waste processor records per waste stream what has been collected and how much it weighs, and those data form the starting point.
Most waste processors send a summary with the invoice: the weight per waste stream, a code indicating which type of waste it is, and whether it was delivered separately. That summary is exactly the kind of supporting documentation a questionnaire asks for. You do not need to recalculate it; you simply read what is stated.
Which waste streams are typical for your sector
Within transport and logistics, it is often a limited number of recurring streams: business waste from office and warehouse, packaging material from goods being transshipped, and specific streams from fleet maintenance such as used oil, batteries and scrap tyres. This last category often does not go through the regular waste processor but through the garage or tyre supplier, which take tyres and oil separately. It is worth checking whether there is also a summary of this, because otherwise you will miss part of the picture.
For logistics companies, packaging material is often the largest stream by weight: pallets, foil, cardboard. If you reuse part of it yourself or return it to the supplier, that is usually recorded somewhere too, for example in a pallet or return register. That counts towards the overall picture, even if it does not go through the waste processor.
The connection with fuel and fleet
Waste data do not stand alone from the rest of your dossier. Used oil and tyres are related to the number of vehicles and the kilometres driven, figures you also need for the fuel side of the questionnaire. Once you have the fuel receipts and mileage records in order to map the emissions of your own fleet, you will often see that the same maintenance records also form the basis for the waste section. So it is not a separate exercise, but an addition to what you are already collecting.
Outsourced transport: what you ask a subcontractor
If part of your trips are driven by a subcontractor, the waste from their vehicles usually falls outside your own administration. The questionnaire from your client generally covers your own operations, not automatically those of a third party. Whether and to what extent data from subcontractors may be requested depends on the precise wording of the question and on what the standard prescribes for companies of your size. If you are unsure about what a specific question is asking of you, it is advisable to check it against the rules that have applied to reporting-obligated purchasers since March 2026, for example with a brief check that indicates what a question requires.
What the standard distinguishes
The VSME standard describes waste and materials at a basic level: it concerns quantities, source separation and the destination of the main streams. The standard does not ask for a detailed mass balance per raw material and no life cycle assessment. What a specific purchaser asks for beyond this can go further than what the standard prescribes, and that distinction is precisely where the limit lies that has applied since March 2026 for suppliers with one thousand employees or fewer. An overview of what is and is not in the standard can be found in the knowledge base by topic.
Once recorded, it stays in place
The point of collecting these data is not that you do it once for this questionnaire, but that the overview of waste streams, fuel, and vehicle fleet remains in place for the next one. If something changes in the standard that specifically affects your waste file, that is something you want to be notified about rather than having to monitor it yourself. How that process works, and where the figures and sources come from, is explained at the page that explains where the information comes from.
Would you first like to see whether the questions you received about waste and materials fall within the standard, or outside it? Do the free quick-scan or browse through the topics to see what applies to your business.