Cat 12 Starter Kit: End-of-Life Treatment of Sold Products

If you sell physical products: estimate end-of-life impacts using a basic materials and disposal model

Scope 3, Made PracticalCoreStarter Kit30 min

What you'll accomplish

  • Determine if Cat 12 applies
  • Create a simple bill-of-materials style breakdown (even if high-level)
  • Document end-of-life assumptions (landfill/recycle rates, streams)
  • Produce a minimum viable estimate and improvement plan

Who this is for

Sustainability teams

Documenting end-of-life assumptions

Product and packaging teams

Providing materials composition context

Finance teams

Approving disclosure assumptions

Quick start (60 minutes)

  • Run relevance test (Template 1)
  • Build product materials table (Template 2)
  • Document disposal assumptions (Template 3)
  • Draft methods note (Template 4)

Relevance test

Cat 12 is relevant when:

  • •you sell physical products or packaging with meaningful mass/volume

If you sell software/services only, Cat 12 is often not applicable.

Templates

Template 1 — Relevance Test

Cat 12 Test

Do we sell physical products or packaging? (Y/N)
Can we estimate material composition at a high level? (Y/N)

If "No" → document Cat 12 as not applicable.

Template 2 — Product Materials Table (copy/paste)

| Product | Units sold | Material type | Estimated mass per unit | Packaging included? | Notes |
|---|---:|---|---:|---|---|

Template 3 — End-of-Life Assumptions

| Material | Disposal pathway assumption | Source | Confidence (H/M/L) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|

Template 4 — Cat 12 Methods Note (copy/paste)

Cat 12 Methods Note (Internal)

Scope:
Materials included:
Assumptions:
Limitations:
Plan to improve:
- better BOM data
- packaging detail
- region-specific disposal assumptions

Common pitfalls

  • ✗Skipping packaging when it's a major part of impact
  • ✗No documented material assumptions
  • ✗Publishing without noting limitations

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release