This year marks progress to gain the largest global consensus for mitigation of manmade greenhouse gas emissions. Based on some advanced proposals for negotiations and forward movements by the United States, December’s COP15 in Copenhagen (7–18 December) is looking like it will be an important event to attend.
For many industries, wide changes in processes or practices are anticipated so as to effectively achieve reductions. When considering the transportation or energy industries, such changes may be intense, require lead times for development, and will likely affect product markets, costs, and current efficiencies. For the waste management sector, however, a proper and effective response to the challenges of climate change is straightforward – stay with the waste hierarchy and expand the geographic use of today’s best practices.
Waste management’s key messages include:
- the waste sector is considered a relatively small contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (less than 5% globally), with potential to be a relatively large part of the solution (nearly 20%)
- the waste sector has high potential to expand its positive impact in both industrialized and developing countries (through increased recycling, landfill biogas collection/treatment etc.).
In fact, the areas of greatest impact are easily identified as:
- capture and treat methane generated from waste landfills through system construction, operations, and environmental management
- expansion of greenhouse gas mitigation contributions (through employment of capture or avoidance methods) within several waste management practice areas/technologies.
With regard to landfills, common waste management practices of today which promote greenhouse gas reductions include early capping/coverage of land-disposed waste quantities, early collection of landfill biogas, and expansion and increased installation of landfill biogas projects. For certain countries increased flexibility within the regulatory environment for carbon credit ownership will promote needed reductions. For others, allowance of small power production and sales to the grid will serve to advance energy projects and will remove a significant barrier to project development.
With regard to other waste handling methods and practices, effective greenhouse gas mitigation is accomplished by the continuance of waste management. Simply put, the concepts of waste reduction, recycling and reuse, are well matched to the goals of reducing one’s carbon footprint. Coupled with that are today’s processing, composting, digestion and waste-to-energy facilities – as prime examples of how best to handle global wastes in cost-effective, efficient ways.
Management of solid and hazardous wastes result in other related positive attributes, in part, through the choices available to local and regional governments and service providers. To assist such choices, published tools are available for greenhouse gas emissions quantification as tied to common waste management practices. These tools quantify both direct and avoided greenhouse gas generation/emissions. Local waste managers can use tools for alternative approaches – sustainability, cost effectiveness, energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions reductions and to engage stakeholders.
It will be intriguing to see how the carbon negotiators reach the important decisions for 2009, specifically on climate change. It is our hope and position that the benefits of proper waste management will be recognized for the rapid, near-term delivery of greenhouse gas reductions for the global community.
Greg Vogt is Managing Director of ISWA and ISWA Editor of Waste Management World
e-mail: gvogt@iswa.org
