Reevaluating carbon storage and emissions in California’s harvested wood products: implications for alternative waste parameters

Reevaluating carbon storage and emissions in California’s harvested wood products: implications for alternative waste parameters | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Method Article Reevaluating carbon storage and emissions in California’s harvested wood products: implications for alternative waste parameters Taylor K. Lucey, Meghan G. MacLean, Nadia T. Tase This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7545128/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Jan, 2026 Read the published version in Carbon Balance and Management → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Harvested wood and paper products can store large amounts of carbon long-term but also contribute to carbon emissions once discarded. Currently, several tools are used for inventory and reporting carbon in wood and paper products in the U.S. Carbon in wood and paper is tracked from initial manufacturing, through its lifetime, and final fate (e.g., dumps, landfills, incinerated, or recycled). Once discarded into landfills, a portion of wood and paper is assumed permanently stored; however, carbon storage of specific products can vary widely which influences carbon storage and emissions estimates. Using historical California harvest data and state-level inventory model, HWP-C vR, this research built model capacity for expanding and refining waste parameters, such as product-level decay half-lives and proportions of permanent carbon storage to reduce waste parameter uncertainty. By updating the proportion of carbon permanently stored in landfilled wood and paper products and by adding product-specific discard pathways, carbon in solid waste disposal sites cumulatively increased by about 11.77 MMT CO 2 Eq and emissions decreased by about 11.18 MMT CO 2 Eq in California from 1953–2020. Updated parameters furthermore made it possible to compare product-level carbon storage and emissions within landfills such as newspaper, office paper, coated paper, cardboard, plywood, and lumber. The cumulative combined solid wood product categories a similar amount of carbon compared with paper products – 28.21 MMT CO 2 Eq (0.415 MMT CO 2 Eq annually) and 27.39 MMT CO 2 Eq (0.403 MMT CO 2 Eq annually) respectively; however, the carbon storage of wood products was much higher than paper, with 164.07 MMT CO 2 Eq (2.413 MMT CO 2 Eq annually) stored compared with 31.41 MMT CO 2 Eq (0.462 MMT CO 2 Eq annually) respectively. These carbon emissions and storage estimates illustrate the value in understanding carbon dynamics at the product-level particularly when considering climate impacts from landfill emissions even after product disposal. carbon emissions landfills waste paper harvested wood products climate change Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementalInfoHWPCvR.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Jan, 2026 Read the published version in Carbon Balance and Management → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 06 Dec, 2025 Reviews received at journal 01 Dec, 2025 Reviews received at journal 16 Nov, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 03 Nov, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Oct, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 09 Oct, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 13 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 13 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 05 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7545128","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Method Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":531838777,"identity":"c7dbdd50-135c-4824-b531-a65dcd3072fd","order_by":0,"name":"Taylor K. 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Currently, several tools are used for inventory and reporting carbon in wood and paper products in the U.S. Carbon in wood and paper is tracked from initial manufacturing, through its lifetime, and final fate (e.g., dumps, landfills, incinerated, or recycled). Once discarded into landfills, a portion of wood and paper is assumed permanently stored; however, carbon storage of specific products can vary widely which influences carbon storage and emissions estimates. Using historical California harvest data and state-level inventory model, HWP-C vR, this research built model capacity for expanding and refining waste parameters, such as product-level decay half-lives and proportions of permanent carbon storage to reduce waste parameter uncertainty. By updating the proportion of carbon permanently stored in landfilled wood and paper products and by adding product-specific discard pathways, carbon in solid waste disposal sites cumulatively increased by about 11.77 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq and emissions decreased by about 11.18 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq in California from 1953\u0026ndash;2020. Updated parameters furthermore made it possible to compare product-level carbon storage and emissions within landfills such as newspaper, office paper, coated paper, cardboard, plywood, and lumber. The cumulative combined solid wood product categories a similar amount of carbon compared with paper products \u0026ndash; 28.21 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq (0.415 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq annually) and 27.39 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq (0.403 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq annually) respectively; however, the carbon storage of wood products was much higher than paper, with 164.07 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq (2.413 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq annually) stored compared with 31.41 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq (0.462 MMT CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eEq annually) respectively. These carbon emissions and storage estimates illustrate the value in understanding carbon dynamics at the product-level particularly when considering climate impacts from landfill emissions even after product disposal.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Reevaluating carbon storage and emissions in California’s harvested wood products: implications for alternative waste parameters","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-22 14:17:43","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7545128/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-12-06T16:52:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-12-01T15:06:44+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-11-16T19:45:08+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"279011664365534583939433813056694832353","date":"2025-11-03T14:20:12+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"59562364968797126070948812942759003737","date":"2025-10-29T10:38:53+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"12636284404418525805290816144067734646","date":"2025-10-12T15:01:29+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"327346498162059510290819645756394206277","date":"2025-10-11T17:29:52+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-10-09T10:42:06+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-09-13T10:27:06+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-09-13T10:26:07+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Carbon Balance and Management","date":"2025-09-05T14:14:33+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"carbon-balance-and-management","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"cbam","sideBox":"Learn more about [Carbon Balance and Management](https://cbmjournal.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"13021","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/13021/3","title":"Carbon Balance and Management","twitterHandle":"@BioMedCentral","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC/SO AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"045b3e34-f5ab-4596-9c43-28d9452083ec","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 22nd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-02T16:06:50+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7545128","link":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-026-00407-7","journal":{"identity":"carbon-balance-and-management","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Carbon Balance and Management"},"publishedOn":"2026-01-29 15:58:22","publishedOnDateReadable":"January 29th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-22 14:17:43","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1186/s13021-026-00407-7","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-026-00407-7","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7545128","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7545128","identity":"rs-7545128","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}