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The study by environmental nonprofit Industrious Labs concluded
that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations are
insufficient to prevent landfills, or garbage dumps, from
emitting large amounts of the climate-warming gas methane.
The group urged EPA to require monitoring with more advanced
technologies, extend regulation to smaller landfills and mandate
speedier installation of gas-capturing systems as landfills
expand, among other recommendations.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Methane is more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas
in the short term, and scientists and policymakers have called
for aggressive action to rein in those emissions to fight
climate change. Landfills accounted for more than 14% of U.S.
methane emissions in 2022, the third-biggest source behind the
oil and gas and livestock sectors.
KEY QUOTE
"More and more evidence is piling up that it's time for the EPA
to act and begin that process of updating the rule," Katherine
Blauvelt, circular economy director at Industrious Labs, said in
an interview.
EPA has said that methane emissions represent a lost opportunity
to capture and use an energy resource. The agency last year said
food waste was responsible for about 58% of fugitive methane
emissions from landfills and recommended diverting food waste
from landfills to slash methane emissions in the sector
CONTEXT
EPA is required to begin a process to reassess its landfill
regulations by August this year. U.S. President Joe Biden's
administration has cracked down on methane emissions in the oil
and gas industry with a range of policies and in 2021
spearheaded a global effort to slash methane emissions.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; editing by Rod Nickel)
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