Landfills and Incinerators in the CDM: Not Sustainable, Not Additional

The document contends that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) fails to ensure environmental integrity in the waste sector, creating perverse incentives that prioritize waste disposal over recycling and composting. It highlights the displacement of informal waste pickers, the issuance of carbon credits for 'business-as-usual' projects that lack additionality, and the failure of landfill gas capture systems to prevent significant methane leakage. Specific examples include the Timarpur-Okhla plant in Delhi, the Bisasar landfill in Durban, and incinerators in China.

• CDM solid waste management projects often displace the informal recycling sector, threatening the livelihoods of urban poor who provide waste recovery services. For example, the Timarpur-Okhla Plant in Delhi relies on dry waste like paper and plastic, which are the primary materials targeted by waste pickers.
• The CDM creates perverse incentives by awarding carbon credits based on the volume of waste incinerated or methane captured from landfills, encouraging operators to maximize waste disposal rather than recycling. In the case of the Bisasar landfill in Durban, South Africa, GAIA found that more than 60% of produced methane escapes into the atmosphere.
• Many municipal solid waste projects under the CDM lack additionality, meaning they would have proceeded without CDM support. In China, at least five registered incinerators were operational years before registration, including the Chengdu Luo Dai incinerator, which had been operating for two years prior to CDM approval.

APA

Vilella, M. (2012). Landfills and Incinerators in the CDM: Not Sustainable, Not Additional. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2012/04/25/landfills-and-incinerators-in-the-cdm-not-sustainable-not-additional-watch-this-1-2/

Chicago

Vilella, Mariel. Landfills and Incinerators in the CDM: Not Sustainable, Not Additional. Carbon Market Watch, 2012. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2012/04/25/landfills-and-incinerators-in-the-cdm-not-sustainable-not-additional-watch-this-1-2/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Vilella |first1=Mariel |title=Landfills and Incinerators in the CDM: Not Sustainable, Not Additional |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=25 April 2012 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2012/04/25/landfills-and-incinerators-in-the-cdm-not-sustainable-not-additional-watch-this-1-2/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{vilella2012landfills, author = {Vilella, Mariel}, title = {{Landfills and Incinerators in the CDM: Not Sustainable, Not Additional}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2012}, month = apr, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2012/04/25/landfills-and-incinerators-in-the-cdm-not-sustainable-not-additional-watch-this-1-2/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }