Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority

The Waste-Climate Connection

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot!

Scientists agree that the increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere is responsible for the accelerated warming of the Earth’s surface temperature. GHGs—primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—are generated when fossil fuels are burned, for example to run a car or to power a manufacturing plant. This means that making a product—from extraction of the raw materials used to manufacturing, distribution, use, and disposal—indirectly or directly contributes to the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere and affects the global climate. Waste reduction and recycling efforts – such as the CCCSWA’s Reuse and Cleanup Days program – help to decrease the amount of extraction and manufacturing from raw materials; thus cutting down on GHGs.

Discarded products typically end up in a landfill, which releases GHGs, especially methane, as those materials decompose.

 

In fact, the U.S. EPA considers municipal landfills to be the second largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for nearly 23 percent of these emissions in 2006. Methane gas from landfills is estimated to have a global warming potential of between 21 and 72 times greater than CO2. (1.)

 

An increasing number of landfills are implementing systems to capture the methane and generate electricity, which is used by a neighbor or is fed into the electric grid. Using captured methane as a fuel can provide an alternative to fossil fuels. However, if we’re trying to protect the climate, it’s more effective to keep compostable materials out of landfills in the first place. Programs such as backyard composting, residential food scraps and yard waste recycling, and restaurant food waste composting all help to reduce GHG emissions and improve the environment. In addition, composting creates a nutrient-rich soil amendment that not only replenishes depleted soil, but also helps it capture and hold more carbon—another climate benefit. For more information about home composting programs available to you please visit: http://www.wastediversion.org/app_pages/view/58.

The bottom line: Practicing the 4Rs can really help the climate! The US EPA estimates that simply increasing our national recycling rate from its current level of 30 percent to 35 percent would reduce GHG emissions by 10 million metric tons of so-called carbon equivalent (MTCE). That amount is equal to the average annual emissions from the electricity consumed by roughly 4.6 million households. (2.)