You are here:
Trends and Analyses from the EPA GHG Reporting Program
Citation:
Krause, M., P. Jordan, G. Chickering, D. Carson, AND T. Tolaymat. Trends and Analyses from the EPA GHG Reporting Program. Global Waste Management Symposium, Indian Wells, California, February 23 - 26, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills that meet certain methane emission thresholds must annually submit information to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). The purpose of the project was to identify and evaluate the range of potentially useful data collected from the GHGRP beyond GHG emissions. In the case of landfill tonnage, the objective is not just to quantify the total tons going to landfills, but to compare the amount of MSW going to landfill as reported by the landfill operators to the estimates developed by EPA in their annual Facts and Figures reports. Quantities of construction & demolition debris (C&DD), industrial wastes, and soils are also of interest. For other categories, such as surface area and capacity, such values have only been estimated and are only now directly quantifiable on a national level.
Description:
Beginning in 2010, landfills that met certain methane emission thresholds were required to submit data to EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). Data included annual tons received, historical tons received, waste composition, landfill surface area, capacity, and methane emissions. With now eight years of data publicly available, certain trends for municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are discernable. In 2018, over 150 million metric tons of MSW was landfilled across 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Additionally, another 170 million tons of construction demolition (C&D) debris, inert material (such as ashes), and other uncategorized non-hazardous wastes were co-disposed. Landfilled tons in 2018 were 18% higher than in 2010. Available landfill capacity, the space permitted for landfilling, increased year-over-year. Cumulative capacity reflecting the waste-in-place as well as available capacity reached nearly 15 billion tons in 2018. And total surface area permitted for landfilling across the country consumed 230 square miles. Leachate recirculation is found to be active at 360 of the 1,134 reporting sites. And of the 360 sites recirculating leachate, 188 reported actively or occasionally doing so in the previous 10 years. Approximately, 68% (775 sites) have not done so in the previous 10 years.