Methane pollution - Source and Control

[nicofrog]

Sources of Methane - Landfill

https://www.ghgonline.org/images/landfill.jpgGlobal methane emissions from landfill are estimated to be between 30 and 70 million tonnes each year. Most of this landfill methane currently comes from developed countries, where the levels of waste tend to be highest.

Landfills provide ideal conditions for methanogenesis, with lots of organic material and anaerobic conditions prevalent. The huge amounts of waste that are buried in landfill sites can mean that methane is produced for years after the site is closed, due to the waste slowly decaying under the ground.
Methane escapes from landfills either directly to the atmosphere or by diffusion through the cover soil. Highly active communities of methanotrophs can develop in these overlying soils and these can greatly reduce the amounts of methane emitted.

Human Impact
Our so called 'throw away society' in developed countries has led to a large increase in the amounts of domestic kitchen waste entering landfill sites. Not only does this increase in household waste lead to greater greenhouse gas emissions in the form of landfill methane, but the waste incurs further greenhouse gas costs in transporting waste to landfill sites. As the amounts of domestic waste increase in developing countries landfill methane could become an even greater source of global methane.

[nicofrog]

Study methane,and you will better understand carbon cycles ,there is more methane on earth than any other carbon more than oil more than trees and animals and fish if it all released we could not live here a week
headline "Big Fart Kills a life on planet" no joke read on BBC some real news left somewhere
December 2012: Methane and inaction by the EPA.

The EPA has found that climate change caused, in part, by methane has “increased air and ocean temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, melting and thawing of global glaciers and ice, increasingly severe weather events, such as hurricanes of greater intensity, and sea level rise.” In 2009, EPA determined that methane and other greenhouse gases endanger the public’s health and welfare. Pound for pound, methane warms the climate 22 times more than CO2 over a 100-year period. The oil and gas industry is the single largest emitter of human-caused methane in the United States and the second largest industrial source of domestic greenhouse gas emissions behind only electric power plants. The EPA’s decision not to directly address the emissions of methane from oil and natural gas operations, including hydrofracking, leaves nearly 95% of these emissions uncontrolled. The EPA has determined that oil and natural gas production wells, gathering lines, processing facilities, storage tanks and transmission and distribution pipelines emit over 15 million metric tons of methane annually – the equivalent of the annual greenhouse gas emission of 64 million cars. link (https://ens-newswire.com/2012/12/12/states-threaten-epa-over-petroleum-industry-methane-emissions/)