Mitigating Landfill Methane Key Strategies and Policy Levers to Drive Emissions Reductions

The document argues that current US federal standards for landfill methane are insufficient and proposes a two-pronged approach: enhancing the monitoring and capture of methane from waste already in place and reducing the disposal of organic materials. It highlights that landfill methane emissions may be underestimated by a factor of two and that 54% of reporting landfills have adjacent communities exceeding national averages for low-income or people of color populations. Proposed solutions include the use of satellites, drones, and continuous sensors for leak detection, the adoption of biocovers, and the diversion of food waste to composting or anaerobic digestion. The authors call on the EPA to implement more ambitious federal standards under the Clean Air Act during its 2024 review.

• Current methane emission models may be significantly inaccurate, with EPA senior personnel suggesting they could underestimate emissions by a factor of two, and field studies showing gas collection efficiency varying from the low 20% range to over 90%.
• Landfills disproportionately impact marginalized communities; 54% of landfills in the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program have communities within one mile that exceed national averages for either low-income (30%) or people of color (40%) populations.
• A two-pronged strategy for emissions reduction involves mitigating emissions from existing waste through better monitoring and control, and preventing new methane by reducing organic waste disposal.
• Specific technical improvements for existing landfills include using satellites, drones, and continuous sensors for leak detection, implementing biocovers for methane oxidation, and using enclosed flares with at least 99% destruction efficiency.
• Diverting 75% of the food waste landfilled in the US to anaerobic digesters or composting facilities would result in an 80%–90% reduction in emissions over the waste's lifetime according to the EPA's WARM model.
• The US has committed to several methane targets, including the Global Methane Pledge to reduce global emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, and a North American Leaders Summit commitment to reduce solid waste and wastewater sector methane by at least 15% by 2030.

APA

Garland, E., Alves, O., Frankiewicz, T., & Ayandele, E. (2023). Mitigating Landfill Methane Key Strategies and Policy Levers to Drive Emissions Reductions. RMI. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2023/06/landfill_monitoring_memo_series.pdf

Chicago

Garland, Ellie, Olivia Alves, Tom Frankiewicz, and Ebun Ayandele. Mitigating Landfill Methane Key Strategies and Policy Levers to Drive Emissions Reductions. RMI, 2023. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2023/06/landfill_monitoring_memo_series.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Garland |first1=Ellie |last2=Alves |first2=Olivia |last3=Frankiewicz |first3=Tom |last4=Ayandele |first4=Ebun |title=Mitigating Landfill Methane Key Strategies and Policy Levers to Drive Emissions Reductions |publisher=RMI |date=9 June 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2023/06/landfill_monitoring_memo_series.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{garland2023mitigating, author = {Garland, Ellie and Alves, Olivia and Frankiewicz, Tom and Ayandele, Ebun}, title = {{Mitigating Landfill Methane Key Strategies and Policy Levers to Drive Emissions Reductions}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2023/06/landfill_monitoring_memo_series.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }