Decomposing food waste is releasing thousands of tonnes of planet-warming methane gas at landfills in Buenos Aires, Delhi, Mumbai, and Lahore, new research finds.
With about 570 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas emitted every year from both industrial and natural processes, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere has been increasing at aIn some countries, the biggest source is agricultural fields and farm animals — particularly cows but also livestock and chickens. In the United States, the oil and gas industry is largely responsible.Yet there is another major global source – garbage.
High-resolution satellite images snapped in 2020 revealed the methane was coming from upwind landfills in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, the Indian cities of New Delhi and Mumbai, and Pakistan's second-largest city of Lahore, according to theA landfill in Mumbai, for example, was putting out about 9.8 tonnes of methane per hour, or 85,000 tonnes per year, according to the study's findings.
Landfill waste – responsible for about 11% of global methane emissions – is expected to increase about 70% by 2050 as the global population continues to climb, according to theBecause methane is 80 times more powerful than CO2 over a 20-year period, reducing "methane emissions now … can have a quick impact on climate change," Maasakkers said.
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