A total of 1,256 methane super-emitter events occurred between January 2019 and June 2023, according to the new data. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh lead the list of nations with the most large leaks, followed by Argentina, Uzbekistan and Spain.
Decomposing waste is responsible for about 20% of human-caused methane emissions.
Prof Euan Nisbet, a methane expert at Royal Holloway University of London, said: “Big landfills make a great deal of methane but it doesn’t cost much to bulldoze soil over a stinking, burning landfill. It’s not rocket science.”
Dumps don’t have to be a problem. They can be methane producers for practical use.
Central Ohio has a landfill has a gas re-capture system in it. Its a series of pipes that go deep into the landfill and collect the gas. The city has converted their municipal heavy trucks and many city buses to run on methane so much of that gas is powering the city vehicles driving around doing city work. Any overproduction of gas is put into the methane infrastructure to be used by homes and businesses.
“SWACO has partnered with a High BTU facility - Archaea Energy - that takes a great renewable resource like landfill gas, treats it, and inserts it into a gas pipeline. This endeavor has taken a great deal of effort, resource and consideration. This public-private partnership captures and converts enough methane gas from the current Franklin County Sanitary Landfill to heat 13,386 homes in Central Ohio every year.”