A New Approach Method of CH 4 Emission Estimation from Landfills Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Abstract

ABSTRACT - The CH4 is one of the six Greenhouse Effect Gases (GEG) that is mentioned in the Kyoto Protocol. The GEG is generated by the anthropic activities which are conducive to climate changes if their management is not conducted in a proper way. The main purpose of the environment policy is the reduction of the GEG emission. It is well-known that the CH4 gas emission from municipal solid waste MSW landfills is responsible for 4 ÷ 5% of the total Greenhouse Effect. It is necessary to have a practical method to calculate the quantitative CH4 gas emission, in order to apply an efficient management of the CH4 gas emission from MSW landfills, conforming or non-conforming. This method has to be transparent, credible, coherent, and applicable both for conforming and non-conforming MSW deposits. This paper proposes a new estimation calculation method of the CH4 gas emission from all MSW deposits in Romania. The IPCC group of experts has made recommendations related to the estimation of CH4 but the European Union (EU) admits that the environmental conditions are not the same in every Member State. The annual evolution of CO2 for the CH4 gas emission at every MSW location is valuable information for the Environment Authority with a view to realistic environmental planning and for an efficient policy to be applied in order to reduce the greenhouse effect of MSW landfills.