Methane Emission Estimates From Several Waste Sector Facilities in New York State

Reducing methane emissions plays an important role in climate mitigation due to methane’s extremely potent warming potential and its immediate climate impacts due to its short lifetime. It is emitted from a myriad of natural and anthropogenic sources. Biogenic sources, such as landfills and wastewater treatment plants, are major contributors to the methane budget. However, there is high uncertainty in this field because, in contrast to the fossil fuel industry, there still lacks adequate research on waste sector emissions. This presentation aims to determine emission rates from a number of landfills and wastewater treatment plants visited over several months based on mobile and aircraft measurements in 2021-2022 in New York State. The emission rates at these waste sector facilities estimated from several different methods will be compared to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program Inventory. The goal is to better understand the bias of the current inventory and to also aid policy and regulation in reducing methane emissions from the waste sector.