A Playbook for Municipal Solid Waste Methane Mitigation

The report identifies four global municipal solid waste (MSW) management archetypes—Build the Basics (BtB), Build the Basics Plus (BtB+), Move up the Hierarchy (MuH), and Close the Circle (CtC)—and proposes specific abatement strategies for each. It emphasizes that diverting organic waste from landfills and dumpsites is the most significant opportunity for methane reduction. The authors recommend a combination of source-separated organics (SSO) programs, improved landfill gas collection and control systems (GCCS), and enabling policy frameworks, such as landfill taxes and organic waste bans, to align waste management with the waste hierarchy and limit global warming.

• The waste sector is the third largest contributor to global anthropogenic methane emissions, accounting for approximately 20% of the global total.
• Implementing all technically feasible abatement strategies could potentially reduce methane emissions from municipal solid waste by an estimated 80% below the baseline by 2050.
• The report categorizes global waste management into four archetypes: 'Build the Basics' (BtB) characterized by dumpsites and low collection; 'Build the Basics Plus' (BtB+) showing a transition to sanitary landfills; 'Move up the Hierarchy' (MuH) with universal collection and sanitary landfills; and 'Close the Circle' (CtC) with heavy reliance on waste-to-energy and organic waste bans.
• Organic waste, including food and yard waste, represents the largest share of the MSW stream across all income levels, ranging from 32% in high-income countries to 56% in low-income countries.
• Waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies, while reducing landfill volume and methane generation, are criticized for emitting toxic air pollutants and failing to recover carbon and plant nutrients from organic waste.
• For the BtB and BtB+ archetypes, the report recommends prioritizing basic infrastructure, rehabilitating dumpsites into sanitary landfills with gas collection, and building technical capacity for service providers.
• For the MuH and CtC archetypes, the focus shifts toward preventing food loss and waste, expanding source-separated organics (SSO) programs, and banning the landfilling or incineration of organic waste.
• Advanced monitoring technologies, such as satellites and aircraft, can identify 'super emitters' and provide more accurate methane quantification than traditional first-order decay models.
• Financial barriers to methane mitigation can be addressed through blended finance, project preparation facilities (PPFs), and the creation of robust end markets for organic-derived products like biogas and compost.

APA

Ayandele, E., Frankiewicz, T., & Wu, Y. (2024). A Playbook for Municipal Solid Waste Methane Mitigation. RMI. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/03/wastemap_global_strategy_playbook.pdf

Chicago

Ayandele, Ebun, Tom Frankiewicz, and Yuchen Wu. A Playbook for Municipal Solid Waste Methane Mitigation. RMI, 2024. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/03/wastemap_global_strategy_playbook.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ayandele |first1=Ebun |last2=Frankiewicz |first2=Tom |last3=Wu |first3=Yuchen |title=A Playbook for Municipal Solid Waste Methane Mitigation |publisher=RMI |date=February 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/03/wastemap_global_strategy_playbook.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ayandele2024playbook, author = {Ayandele, Ebun and Frankiewicz, Tom and Wu, Yuchen}, title = {{A Playbook for Municipal Solid Waste Methane Mitigation}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = feb, url = {https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/03/wastemap_global_strategy_playbook.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }