Landfills gas emissions and the associated air quality, energy and climate change implications in South Africa

Abstract

Global methane (CH4) emissions are divided mostly into three sources; biogenic, thermogenic and pyrogenic. The sources can be anthropogenic or natural in origin. Anthropogenic sources include emissions associated with agriculture (rice paddies and ruminants), waste (landfill and waste water), biomass burning and fossil fuels. Landfills have been implicated as one of the largest anthropogenic sources of atmospheric CH4 globally and as a significant contributor to global warming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report anthropogenic sources account for 304 – 368 TgCH4/year and methanogenesis in landfills and waste contributes between 67 and 90 TgCH4/year to this amount (between 22 and 24% of emissions).