India should conduct a nationwide study to accurately estimate methane emissions from legacy waste dumpsites and organic waste processing facilities, and urgently phase out biodegradable waste disposal in landfills, a new report by the Centre for Science and Environment has recommended.
The independent think tank’s report, titled “Methane Emissions from Open Dumpsites in India: Estimation and Mitigation Strategies”, also stresses the importance of creating robust markets for reduced-emission products generated from organic waste processing and promoting carbon credits for biomining projects.
A key concern raised in the report is the unreliability and inconsistency of data related to municipal solid waste and methane emissions. To address this issue, the report suggests using the first-order decay (FOD) method, which relies on field data and primary research to more precisely estimate methane emissions from landfill sites.
