(more stories from the Karryos satt service, they are pushing hard for leak stoppage)
Revealed: the 1,200 big methane leaks from waste dumps trashing the planet
The huge leaks of the potent greenhouse gas will doom climate targets, experts say, but stemming them would rapidly reduce global heating
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Methane emissions have accelerated since 2007 and cause a third of the global heating driving the climate crisis today. The acceleration has alarmed scientists, who fear it is the biggest threat to keeping below 1.5C of global heating and could trigger catastrophic climate tipping points. The rapid rise appears to be due to global heating driving more methane production in wetlands – a potential vicious circle that makes cuts of human-caused methane emissions even more urgent.
Decomposing waste is responsible for about 20% of human-caused methane emissions. Fossil fuel operations cause 40% of emissions, and the Guardian revealed there were more than 1,000 super-emitter events from oil, gas and coal sites in 2022 alone, many of which could be easily fixed. Cattle and paddy fields cause the other 40% of 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.”
Microbes in the soil convert methane into CO2. “Then it’s lost 97% of its greenhouse impact,” Nisbet said.
Carlos Silva Filho, president of the International Solid Waste Association, said the global methane pledge made by 150 countries to cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030 could not be achieved without tackling emissions from the waste industry. “Cutting methane is the only solution to meet the global 1.5C temperature target,” he said. “If we really focus on reducing methane emissions from the waste sector, it is a gamechanger.” About 40% of the world’s waste still goes to unmanaged dumps.
Antoine Halff, a co-founder of the company Kayrros, which provided the satellite image analysis to the Guardian, said: “Waste is a big source [of methane] and in countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh it’s not only a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions but it’s also a lost opportunity to tap a fuel resource that could help meet the country’s energy needs.”
The satellite that Kayrros uses orbits the planet 14 times a day and provides global coverage, giving the location of a leak to within about six miles. Higher-resolution satellites that orbit less frequently can pinpoint the waste facilities responsible.
Trash mountains
Delhi, the capital of India, has had at least 124 super-emitter events from city landfills since 2020. Dr Richa Singh, of the Centre for Science and Environment in the city, said that while methane leaks from the global oil and gas industry were getting significant attention, the waste sector also required “urgent intervention”.
India is extremely exposed to the impacts of the climate crisis, making methane cuts especially important, she said. Furthermore, cleaning up landfills would end the fires and serious air and water pollution they cause.
Methane is generated in landfill dumps when waste food and other organic material is decomposed by microbes in an oxygen-depleted environment. Properly managed waste systems either divert organic material from landfills into biodigesters that produce methane fuel, or cover the landfills and capture the gas. Burning converts methane to CO2, a much less powerful greenhouse gas.
The worst event in India occurred in April 2022 in Delhi, with methane poured into the atmosphere at a rate of 434 tonnes an hour. That is equivalent to the pollution caused by 68m petrol cars running simultaneously.
As well as dirtying the air, Delhi’s stinking “trash mountains”, which are miles wide and 60 metres high, are hellish to live near. Mohammad Rizwan, 36, who owns a shop next to the Ghazipur landfill, the site of India’s biggest methane leak in the last five years, said the nearby residents were the “unluckiest people in Delhi”.
“I have watched it grow from a small rubbish heap into that huge mountain over the past 20 years,” he said. “During the summer it catches fire every week because of all the gas and then it becomes even more disgusting here. It’s impossible to breathe and everyone gets sick. It feels so dangerous to live here but I have no choice – this is where my home and livelihood is.”
Methane is a trace gas in the atmosphere, about 0.0002% by volume. “But if you go to a typical dump site in India, it can range between 3% and 15%, which is huge,” said Singh. Methane fires ignite regularly, she said, sending air pollution including carcinogens across entire cities.
An outburst near Lahore in Pakistan in February leaked at 214 tonnes an hour, equivalent to 34m car exhausts. The assessment of methane leaks in Bangladesh is complicated because illegal tapping of gas pipes is commonplace, causing major leaks in urban areas that can be hard to distinguish from landfill emissions.
Symbolic failure
In most developed nations, regulation of landfill sites means super-emitter events are avoided. However, Argentina is an exception, with 100 super-emitter events from waste sites in the capital, Buenos Aires, since 2019. The worst was in August 2020 when 230 tonnes an hour was emitted, equivalent to running 36m cars.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/12/revealed-the-1200-big-methane-leaks-from-waste-dumps-trashing-the-planet