Maryland landfills pose bigger climate problem than previously thought. [View all]

'Throwing food away is more than wasteful. When it gets buried in a landfill, it generates methane, a climate-warming greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide.

A new report by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project finds that Maryland’s municipal landfills are releasing much more methane than previously estimated.

The group estimates that rotting food and other waste in Maryland’s municipal landfills sent about 51,500 tons of methane into the atmosphere in 2017, the most recent year for which complete data were available. That was four times the 12,500 tons that had been estimated by the state Department of the Environment.

“This shows that Maryland really needs to do a better job of reducing, controlling and measuring greenhouse gases from landfills,” said Ryan Maher, an attorney with the group and lead author of the report. “We need to reduce our food waste, compost more and impose strong new air quality regulations that require improved methane controls systems at our state’s landfills.”'>>>

https://www.bayjournal.com/news/climate_change/maryland-landfills-pose-bigger-climate-problem-than-previously-thought/article_98a3214e-ce9d-11eb-a6d4-7f1de9f4b318.html?