Committee on Climate Change

Non-CO₂ emissions from the waste sector primarily consist of methane released from landfill sites as biodegradable wastes – e.g. food, paper, wood, textiles – decompose anaerobically. Although emissions have fallen significantly (58%) since 1990 as waste has been diverted away from landfill, and more sites have captured released gases, this trend has slowed.

Besides reducing the amount of waste produced there are several other disposal options available for these waste streams, which avoid methane emissions. These include:

• Anaerobic digestion (AD) – biodegradable streams are separated and used to produce a methane-rich biogas that can be used as an energy source;
  
• Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) – a mechanical sorting process deals with mixed waste, with the biodegradable stream generally composted or treated through AD;
  
• Composting – waste is allowed to decompose aerobically with the residual applied to land as a compost;
  
• Recycling – suitable materials are recovered and recycled.

There is a strong existing policy framework relating to landfill, including the Landfill Tax and Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme as well as numerous initiatives to reduce waste and to direct waste to energy recovery. In the Low Carbon Transition Plan government targeted a further 1MtCO₂e (5%) reduction in emissions.