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Rhode Island Greenhouse Gas Inventory :Study Guide
Question #3:Talk Trash to Me Where does our trash go when the Waste Management truck pulls up to our curb and hauls away our bins of garbage? For most Rhode Islanders, the endpoint for all of our trash ends up at the Central Landfill in Johnston, RI. (see a bird's-eye-view of this landfill.) Of household waste, an average of 15% is food waste. As reported in the Inventory, "The decomposition of organic waste in solid waste landfills produces “landfill gas” which is 53% methane and 47% carbon dioxide." a) What happens to this landfill gas? Why is this a positive use for the gas in terms of greenhouse gas emissions? b) What would be the result if Rhode Islanders decided to compost 5% of their food waste? c) What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?
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*Global Warming Glossary & Definitions of Terms (EPA) in PDF format
*Rhode Island Greenhouse Gas Inventory ::Appendix B: Municipal Solid Waste
*see a "Bird's Eye View" of the Johnston Central Landfill
*Methodology for Estimating Methane Emissions from Landfills (EPA site)
The amount of carbon is expressed in terms of the percentage of fresh weight. These percentages are:
Paper and paperboard
40
Quantity of methane = 0.17 kilograms per kilogram of waste. (from /pubs/methane/mwbquickref.html)
to Convert from tons to kilograms: multiply tons x 907.1848 |
