US puts more trash in landfills than the EPA knew about

(credit: St. Louis County, MN)

Landfills are used worldwide for the disposal of solid waste. Aside from the local consequences of the waste being disposed of, the solid waste emits gases as it decomposes. A recent article published in Nature Climate Change suggests that landfill disposal rates in the US are significantly higher than previously reported, and open landfills continue to contribute heavily to greenhouse gas production, particularly in the form of methane.

The decomposition that occurs in landfills accounts for 18 percent of the US’ domestic methane emissions, making landfills one of the largest sources. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and, once in the atmosphere, is slowly converted to CO₂. The US and EU nations have required active landfill gas capture for over a decade to minimize their greenhouse gas emissions, but there isn’t extensive data demonstrating the efficiency of these systems.

The study in question examined data from the US Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule and included more than 1,200 municipal solid waste landfills, both open (actively receiving waste) and closed (no longer actively receiving waste). The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule compels the US Environmental Protection Agency to track emissions and solid waste for US-based landfills; the raw data used for this study is based on the records of each individual disposal facility.

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