Landfill methane is a big climate problem. Here are some easy solutions.

A few relatively simple policy fixes could cut the amount of planet-warming methane released by U.S. landfills in half in the next 25 years, according to research published on Tuesday. The report, ​“Turning Down the Heat” by the nonprofit think tank Industrious Labs, estimated the emissions reductions that would occur if the nation put in place more aggressive policies to capture methane spewing from decomposing organic waste in landfills.

Around the world and in the U.S., landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions, which over a 20-year time period heat the planet 80 times more than carbon dioxide. Recent research has suggested that methane emissions from landfills are even higher than previously thought. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has acknowledged the problem, and in July the agency announced that next year it will release new rules aimed at reducing landfill methane.

In an interview with Canary Media, policy experts at Industrious Labs said their research illuminates how straightforward policy changes that the EPA could make would result in significant improvements for the climate.

“This analysis shows that reducing landfill emissions is a tool that’s within easy reach if the EPA drafts a rule that really meets the moment,” said Katherine Blauvelt, the circular-economy director at Industrious Labs.

Using recent satellite data of observable methane emissions, the analysis projects that landfills are only capturing 43 percent of the gas they generate, which is less than current EPA estimates of 65 percent. Then the report goes on to model how enhanced policy measures could affect landfill emissions over time.

According to the analysis, landfill methane could be reduced by 56 percent — about 104 million metric tons — by 2050. Even using the EPA’s more conservative estimates of how much methane is coming off landfills right now, Industrious Labs still found that policy changes could reduce emissions by 42 percent.

Currently, landfills that are designed to hold 2.5 million metric tons of waste or more are required to install a system to collect and control gas — a network of pipes and wells that extract the gas from decomposing waste. The gas is typically burned on site, but it can also be used to generate electricity or as fuel for garbage trucks, or it can be pumped into existing natural gas pipelines.

One of the key changes modeled in the report is expanding how many landfills are required to install gas-capture systems to include smaller landfills that, despite their size, can still release large amounts of methane. Rather than basing gas-control requirements on how much trash the facility is designed to hold, Industrious Labs suggests basing these requirements on how much waste a landfill actually has and setting the threshold at 200,000 pounds of trash.

The report also suggests requiring gas-collection systems to be installed on new sections of landfills within one year. Current regulations allow landfill operators five years to add gas-collection systems to areas where they have begun dumping trash, but organic waste releases a major portion of methane within three years.

“Having those wells in very early on is really allowing us to maximize the amount of gas that we’re collecting,” said Kim Finlay, author of the report and a senior analyst at Industrious Labs.

The report also looks at the potential benefits of measures that make gas-collection systems more efficient — for example, the use of horizontal pipes and establishing standards for landfill cover, a layer of soil placed on top of trash that helps oxidize methane.

Some states, such as Washington and Maryland, have policies like these in effect now. In these states, Blauvelt said, landfill emissions are already projected to decrease. 

“This is a matter of regulations catching up with reality,” Blauvelt said.

According to the report, adopting these policies around gas-collection systems and landfill-cover practices nationwide would reduce methane emissions by 41 million metric tons by 2035, an amount that is almost as significant as the anticipated reductions from the Biden administration’s 2023 methane rule, which aims for a 58 million metric ton reduction in emissions from the oil and gas sector by 2038.

While oil and gas methane reduction targets remain a contentious issue, Finlay said, implementing changes to how landfills run is, by contrast, a relatively ​“easy, achievable solution that we can ask landfill operators to do.”