“I’m often asked whether I believe in global warming. I now just reply with the question: Do you believe in gravity?”
Landfills are some of the greatest producers of methane gas, a greenhouse gas that's an estimated 35 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By diverting waste from landfills and instead reusing or composting it, cities can reduce global emissions and the subsequent warming of the planet. Climate Action Plan strategies that cities can implement fall into four primary categories:
Example - leading by example by implementing strategies on municipally owned facilities and operations.
Advocate - advocacy actions working for change in State and Federal policies as well as advocating for change within their own community through education and awareness campaigns.
Incentivize - these are actions the city can take to incentivize action in the private sector - these can include direct economic incentives as well as actions which remove barriers or make climate action efforts easier for businesses and individuals.
Require - actions which implement policies or ordinances which require the private sector to comply. Examples include requiring energy efficiency and renewable energy within PUD ordinance or the adoption of an energy benchmarking ordinance.
Cities and individuals can significantly reduce Solid Waste GHG emissions through a number of ways:
Source Reduction
Source reduction, also known as waste prevention, is the elimination of waste before it is created and it is the most effective way to prevent solid waste greenhouse gas emissions. Source reduction can be achieved through product design strategies that use less material (known as “lightweighting”), use of recycled materials rather than raw materials, and reduction of overall consumption.
Recycling (inorganic)
Inorganic waste does not contribute directly to greenhouse gas emissions, unless it is incinerated. However it does represent greenhouse gases emitted previously during the manufacturing process. Diverting solid waste into recycling programs from landfills saves energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. That's because making goods from recycled materials typically requires less energy than making goods from virgin materials. And waste prevention is even more effective. Less energy is needed to extract, transport, and process raw materials and to manufacture products when people reuse things or when products are made with less material. When energy demand decreases, fewer fossil fuels are burned and less carbon dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere.
Compost (organic)
Food waste represents 21.1% of the trash produced in the US. When food scraps are thrown in a landfill, the degrading material creates methane. Diverting organic solid waste from landfills to composting programs reduces solid waste emissions by 50% or greater. In addition, the product of composting is high quality, fertile soil that can be used for growing crops without the use of synthetic fertilizers.
Energy Recovery
Energy recovery from waste is the conversion of non-recyclable waste materials into useable heat, electricity, or fuel through a variety of processes, including combustion, gasification, pyrolization, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas (LFG) recovery.According to the EPA, for every ton of solid waste that goes through an energy recovery facility, 1 tone of Greenhouse Gas emissions are avoided
Find specific strategies with paleBLUEdot’s ACTION Finder Climate Action Database.