Clear answers for waste-to-CDR participation.

MSW2CDR stands for Municipal Solid Waste to Carbon Dioxide Removal. In plain language, it focuses on everyday municipal and commercial waste from homes, businesses, offices, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, venues, hotels, campuses, airports, and cities that may contain eligible biogenic carbon.

MSW means municipal solid waste. It includes everyday waste generated by households, public places, institutions, offices, food-service locations, commercial buildings, and communities. MSW2CDR focuses on the carbon-bearing fractions that can be identified, separated, assessed, and routed responsibly.

CDR means carbon dioxide removal: removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and durably storing it. CDR is different from avoided emissions. Avoided emissions reduce how much new greenhouse gas is released; CDR removes atmospheric carbon and stores it for a durable period through a credible pathway.

BiCRS means Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage. It uses biomass or organic waste that captured atmospheric carbon through photosynthesis and stores that carbon durably, either as solid carbon, carbon-storing materials, geologic CO₂ storage, mineralized carbon, bio-oil storage, or other accepted routes.

Eligible biogenic carbon is plant- or organic-origin carbon in materials such as food scraps, yard waste, paper, paperboard, untreated wood, food-soiled fiber, compostable materials, digestate, or other organic residuals that may be assessed for a credible route. Eligibility depends on contamination, source, route, technology fit, and verification requirements.

A waste-to-BiCRS pathway is a route that moves eligible municipal or commercial waste biomass into durable carbon storage through technologies such as biochar, hydrochar, mineralization, biogenic CO₂ capture and storage, biomass storage, or another credible carbon-removal process.

A CDR Retrofit Assessment is the first-step review of whether a material, site, facility, waste stream, technology, or buyer thesis may support a credible carbon-removal pathway. It identifies eligible carbon, screens risks, maps possible routes, and clarifies evidence needed before any larger pilot, funding, or claim is pursued.

MSW2CDR is an assessment, routing, and market-building platform for organic waste diversion-to-CDR readiness. It helps identify eligible biogenic carbon streams, assess pathway fit, connect supply chain partners, and prepare projects for pilots, funding, MRV, buyer review, and future verification.

No. MSW2CDR specifically excludes or screens materials that are fossil-derived, hazardous, treated, contaminated, or not tied to durable storage. The platform is designed to find eligible carbon and credible routes, not rebrand all waste as CDR.

No. MSW2CDR can help identify, assess, route, and prepare projects. Verified carbon-removal claims require accepted downstream measurement, accounting, durable storage, and appropriate verification or registry-specific review.

Most people understand agricultural residues, manure, forests, and purpose-grown biomass as potential biomass resources, but fewer recognize the carbon-bearing materials they buy, use, hold, and discard every day. MSW2CDR translates those everyday waste streams into material categories, route questions, and responsible carbon-removal project pathways.

No. Composting can reduce landfill methane risk, recycle nutrients, and improve soil health, but composting alone does not automatically create durable carbon removal. Carbon removal requires measured eligible carbon, emissions accounting, contaminant control, and durable storage.

No. MSW2CDR supports composting when composting is the appropriate route. The platform helps distinguish when composting is the best outcome and when selected residual materials, screened overs, digestate, woody fractions, or dry fiber streams may be assessed for durable carbon pathways.

MSW2CDR begins with a hierarchy logic: prevent waste first, recover edible food where appropriate, reuse and recycle materials when those pathways are suitable, compost organics where composting is the best route, and assess durable CDR pathways for eligible residual carbon streams only when the evidence supports it.

BPI and How2Compost help identify compostable products and disposal guidance. MSW2CDR asks a different question: can a material or site stream become carbon-removal supply through a specific route, processor, technology, measurement system, and verified storage outcome?

No. Only verified eligible biogenic fractions may be relevant. Plastics, rubber, metals, glass, hazardous materials, treated wood, and contaminated streams are not eligible carbon-removal feedstocks by default.

Sometimes. Food-soiled fiber may be relevant where it can be source-separated, accepted by a processor, and routed to a credible downstream pathway. Coatings, PFAS risk, inks, contamination, and local infrastructure matter.

Sometimes. Mixed C&D debris is not automatically eligible, but clean biogenic fractions such as untreated wood, cardboard, paperboard, and fiber-based materials may be assessed separately.

MSW2CDR helps identify and prepare potential supply. Buyer and funder participation may include early project discovery, assessment sponsorship, offtake exploration, pilot support, or future purchasing pathways once projects meet quality and verification requirements.

Supply chain partners include cities, composters, organics processors, transfer stations, AD operators, waste companies, venues, brands, material suppliers, CDR technology developers, MRV providers, universities, labs, and others that control, process, transform, measure, fund, or validate eligible waste-carbon streams.

Most waste systems measure diversion. Most carbon-removal markets look for finished tons. MSW2CDR focuses on the supply-chain connection: identifying hidden biogenic carbon supply, routing it into credible pathways, and helping projects become measurable, financeable, and verification-ready.