How is the methane produced in my backyard compost heap any better than the
methane produced in a landfill?
- Original Message
From: Keith Addison [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org
Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2008 10:58:23 AM
Subject: [Biofuel] Stop Trashing the Climate
http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/06/06/want-to-curb-global-warming-start-recycling-and-composting/
Want to Curb Global Warming? Start Recycling and Composting
Written by Shirley Siluk Gregory
Published on June 6th, 2008
Looking for ways beyond changing lightbulbs and taking the train to
help reduce your carbon footprint? Turns out we all could make a big
difference in greenhouse gas emissions by not throwing out so much
trash and composting our food waste.
That's the message from Stop Trashing the Climate, a report
prepared by The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Global
Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Eco-Cycle, a
non-profit recycler. The study finds that waste prevention and
increased recycling and composting could reduce as many greenhouse
gas emissions as are produced by 21 percent of the U.S.'s 417
coal-fired power plants.
Why? There are two basic reasons. One, by trashing stuff instead of
reusing or repairing it, we create the demand for new resources Š and
extracting, manufacturing and transporting those resources generates
carbon dioxide. And, two, by tossing biodegradable materials into
landfills instead of composting them, we're creating emissions of
methane, a greenhouse gas that is shorter-lived but 72 times more
powerful than carbon dioxide.
Recycling is as important for climate stability as improving vehicle
fuel efficiency, retrofitting lighting, planting trees and protecting
forests, said Brenda Platt, co-director of the Institute for Local
Self-Reliance and lead author of the Stop Trashing the Climate
report. By avoiding landfill methane emissions, composting in
particular is a vital tactic in the battle to stop Arctic ice
melting. Biodegradable materials are a liability when buried and
burned but an asset when composted.
The report asserts that A zero waste approach based on preventing
waste and expanding reuse, recycling and composting is one of the
fastest, cheapest, and most effective strategies to protect the
climate. It also notes that, per megawatt-hour, a trash incinerator
produces more carbon dioxide emissions that a coal-fired power plant.
Incinerators also waste three to five times as much energy as
recycling helps to conserve.
A zero waste approach is not only good news for climate stability,
it's also good news for America's businesses and economy, said Eric
Lombardi, a report co-author and director of the Boulder,
Colorado-based Eco-Cycle.
Stop Trashing the Climate urges a local and national 20-year goal
of zero waste. We can get there, the authors argue, by not
subsidizing landfills and incinerators, putting an end to waste
incineration, composting biodegradable materials and expanding the
nationwide infrastructure for reuse, recycling and composting.
As part of World Environment Day, community supporters of better
recycling and composting lobbied officials in several parts of the
country, including Tallahassee; Providence, Rhode Island; Bridgeport,
Connecticut; Los Angeles; and Massachusetts.
http://www.stoptrashingtheclimate.org/
Launched June 5, World Environment Day
Stop Trashing the Climate provides compelling evidence that
preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling, and composting
programs - that is, aiming for zero waste - is one of the fastest,
cheapest, and most effective strategies available for combating
climate change. This report documents the link between climate change
and unsustainable patterns of consumption and wasting, dispels myths
about the climate benefits of landfill gas recovery and waste
incineration, outlines policies needed to effect change, and offers a
roadmap for how to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions within a short period.
Significantly decreasing waste disposed in landfills and incinerators
will reduce greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent to closing 21% of
U.S. coal-fired power plants. This is comparable to leading climate
protection proposals such as improving national vehicle fuel
efficiency. Indeed, preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling,
and composting are essential to put us on the path to climate
stability.
Download the executive summary (PDF, 5 MB);
http://www.stoptrashingtheclimate.org/stoptrashingtheclimate_exsum_lowres.pdf
Print quality version (PDF, 10 MB)
http://www.stoptrashingtheclimate.org/stoptrashingtheclimate_exec_summary.pdf
Download the full report (PDF, 6 MB)
http://www.stoptrashingtheclimate.org/fullreport_stoptrashingtheclimate.pdf
Download key findings and priority policies as a one-page handout (PDF, 160
