ESG in the Waste and Recycling Industry

A group of 30 countries agreed to set methane emission reduction targets for organic waste as part of an international agreement announced at COP29, the global climate conference. 

The United States was one in a list of countries that together are responsible for 47% of the world's methane emissions. Other signatories include Canada, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom and South Korea but notably does not include China or India, the world's two largest methane emitters per the International Energy Agency.

“Fast-tracking actions to reduce methane from organic waste is critical to keep the goals of the Paris Agreement within reach, and can strengthen our food systems globally while harnessing circular economy opportunities,” said Martina Otto, head of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition convened by the UN Environment Programme.

The IEA's most recent annual report noted that methane is responsible for around 30% of the rise in global average temperatures since the Industrial Revolution.

The international community has developed a series of interconnected climate initiatives to pledge and track progress on methane emissions. The Global Methane Pledge, first announced at COP26 in 2021, set signatories like the U.S. on a path to reduce overall methane emissions by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

The Biden administration followed up its commitment with the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan in 2021. The plan included action items for the oil and gas sector, waste sector and agriculture sector, some of which the administration has since followed through on. In waste, for example, the U.S. EPA has doled out millions of dollars in funding to reduce food loss and waste. 

Federal agencies have also targeted landfill methane emissions, expanding regulatory requirements for landfill gas collection to more facilities and studying new methods of addressing fugitive emissions. The administration released its more comprehensive National Strategy to Advance an Integrated U.S. Greenhouse Gas Measurement, Monitoring, and Information System, which included landfill measures, in late 2023.

This methane pledge builds on existing methane reduction efforts. It leaves it up to individual countries to set hard targets. It also includes language encouraging increased financial commitments for waste-related projects, data collection and transparency and collaboration both among countries and with the private sector. It cites UN data finding that wasted food alone contributes to 8 to 10% of global emissions and calls out the sector for disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities due to open pits, landfills and other facilities.

The COP system has drawn criticism from climate activists in recent years, in part as the economies of host countries the United Arab Emirates (COP28) and Azerbaijan (COP29) rely heavily on promoting oil and gas. In the weeks leading up to the latest conference, a BBC investigation found a senior Azerbaijani official was touting COP29 as an arena for making investments in the state's oil and gas company. 

Some have argued that this influence has led high-level climate agreement negotiators to focus on other sources of methane, including the waste and agricultural sectors. The next conference will be in Brazil, where the agriculture and waste sectors are responsible for about 90% of the country's methane emissions.

An analysis performed by the Climate Policy Institute in 2023 looked at methane abatement finance flows in 2021 and 2022 and further confirmed those priorities. Researchers with the international think tank found that 55% of funding went to agriculture, forestry and other land use, 45% went to waste and wastewater and just 1% went to fossil fuels, despite the abatement opportunity being essentially the inverse.

The analysis also found investment lagged far behind need. Average annual investment in methane abatement was $13.7 billion in 2021 and 2022, despite the annual need projected to be $48 billion by 2030.  

As a result, there are still opportunities for abatement in all sectors, including the organic waste space. The sector could mitigate as much as 22 million metric tons of methane gas by 2030, according to the Climate Policy Institute. But investment has fallen short of that goal, and "methane abatement is pursued as a co-benefit rather than a primary impact objective of investment," according to researchers. About 94% of the $4.1 billion spent on solid waste went to waste incineration projects, the researchers found.

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives has urged countries to invest in more direct forms of organics management in the sector. The group analyzed 99 nationally determined contributions, which are the climate plans developed every five years by each signatory of the Paris Agreement, the landmark climate pact seeking to keep global average temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees celsius over pre-industrial levels.

GAIA’s analysis, published in 2021, found that less than half of countries proposed "better separate collection systems for organic waste and/or composting" in their climate commitments, a key tool to address methane emissions from the sector. The organization is urging countries to incorporate such provisions into their next NDCs, as well as set clear methane targets, dedicate financing to less developed nations and build on the work of existing unions, waste pickers and other frontline workers in the sector.

Against that backdrop, negotiators at COP29 reached an agreement that would require countries to develop organic waste-related initiatives as part of their third round of NDCs, due in mid-2025.

The newest pledge drew praise from the International Solid Waste Association, a global trade group which has advocated for transforming waste materials into resources. ISWA President James Law said that organic waste is responsible for the fastest-growing sector of human-caused methane emissions, and that more needs to be done to address this “silent crisis.”

“The stakes could not be higher,” Law said in a speech ahead of the declaration’s adoption. “This Declaration is a compelling call to governments, businesses, and civil society: Let us work together to turn waste into opportunity, pollution into progress, and methane reduction into a tangible climate victory.”

The U.S. EPA plans to issue a proposed rule updating air emissions standards for municipal solid waste landfills in 2025, the Biden-Harris administration confirmed in an announcement.

The commitment follows EPA adding such an update to its unified agenda in July 2024, a regulatory step that indicates the agency's priorities in the near term.

This would be the first update to Clean Air Act emissions standards for new and existing MSW landfills since 2016. The regulation technically requires an update every eight years, but the agency is expected to run past its August 2024 deadline by several months. 

The EPA has faced mounting calls from environmental groups and certain lawmakers to issue an update. The Biden administration has made addressing methane from all sources a priority, including by releasing the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan.

The administration’s statement came after officials held what they called a White House Super Pollutants Summit, which they said featured “companies, environmental organizations, unions, philanthropies, and international partners.” The statement highlighted the administration’s actions to date on methane across sectors, including oil and gas. Methane has long been called a climate “super pollutant” because its global warming potential is about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide on a 20-year timescale.

Besides confirming the timeline for a landfill emissions update, the statement also highlighted public-private collaborations between NASA, NOAA, Carbon Mapper and the Environmental Defense Fund to use new technologies to monitor pollutants like methane.

The Biden administration has previously taken action to address methane from landfills. It began enforcing the 2016 update to the Clean Air Act rules for landfills in 2021, ending a Trump-era delay and court battle that prevented the rules from going into effect. That update tightened the New Source Performance Standards and Emissions Guidelines for new and existing landfills, respectively.

The National Waste & Recycling Association, which praised the added certainty that came in 2021 but has since criticized air emissions regulations as out of step with the industry today, did not respond to a request for comment.
 
Environmental groups have praised the Biden administration's actions, but also argued the current landfill emissions standard doesn't go far enough to meet climate commitments. At a Senate hearing in January 2024, advocates urged lawmakers to pressure EPA into an update. They said monitoring technology has evolved to the point that greater emissions detection and mitigation is possible than current federal standards require.

Those calls have become more vocal. On July 16, 2024, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said on a call with reporters that he was glad to see the EPA add the proposed rulemaking to its agenda but wanted the agency to “move swiftly” to issue and finalize a rule.

“If we're serious about the urgency of combating the climate crisis, then we have to be just as serious about the urgency of reducing methane emissions,” Padilla said. “We can't afford to leave any methane emission reductions on the table.”

Representatives from RMI and Carbon Mapper also joined the call. They echoed Padilla’s calls for action, and also advocated for satellite and other flyover technology to be incorporated into the update to reflect methods that have been piloted in North America for years. 

John Coqueyt, director of US government affairs at RMI, said on the call that environmental groups like his were already providing the EPA with information as needed as agency staff drafted a proposed rulemaking.

While the Clean Air Act update should have been released in August 2024 and now won't be, Coqueyt said taking legal action wouldn’t make the process run any faster. Barring any changes in agency strategy, including those that may come from the presidential election, he expects collaboration between environmental groups and EPA staff.

Sponsored content

By GHGSat

Managing a landfill involves more than just waste collection—it’s a complex operation with unique challenges. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas released from decomposing materials, adds to the complexity. From shifting emission sources to odor issues, safety risks, and the remote location of your landfill, the complexity only grows.

How do you pinpoint emission sources? Is there a faster, more accurate way to quantify and mitigate emissions? Or how do you prove progress to regulators and stakeholders? These aren’t easy questions, but they’re critical to your landfill management. Did you know that with the right tools and strategies, methane can shift from being a problem to an opportunity?

Advanced satellite monitoring is transforming landfill methane management. This article explores how GHGSat, a leader in high-resolution methane monitoring, collaborated with the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) to tackle data gaps in Africa’s remote landfills. This collaboration shows a clear example of how landfill operators can move from reactive mitigation to proactive, measurable solutions.

A use case: Turning data into action

For many landfill operators, accessing accurate and timely data is a challenge— especially in remote locations where on-site measurements are time-consuming and costly. This lack of data makes it harder to pinpoint problem areas, prioritize mitigation efforts, and track progress effectively. In Africa, these challenges are magnified. Many landfills are in rural, hard-to-reach areas and lack basic monitoring, even as waste generation continues to rise.

CATF partnered with GHGSat to address this gap, monitoring 13 landfill sites, including active and decommissioned sites, in West, Central, and East Africa. The project’s goal was not only to measure emissions but to turn those insights into action—helping decision-makers understand where to focus their efforts and how to prioritize solutions.

Methane emissions were detected at over half the sites, ranging from 400 kg/hr to 2700 kg/hr. Surprisingly, one of the largest emitters was a newly established sanitary landfill in Côte d’Ivoire—highlighting how even modern facilities can fall short without consistent monitoring. For many of these sites, this was the first-ever methane assessment, underscoring how a lack of data hindered decision-making. Satellite monitoring filled the gap, delivering actionable insights that would have been otherwise impossible to obtain.

“Across Africa, the waste sector faces a significant data scarcity issue, which hampers methane mitigation efforts. However, by leveraging satellite monitoring, we can expand our reach and provide science-backed evidence to decision-makers and underserved communities,” said Kait Siegel, Director of Waste Methane at the Clean Air Task Force.

But data alone isn’t enough; turning it into action requires collaboration. By working hand-in-hand with local researchers, landfill operators, and community leaders, the project didn’t just identify the problems—it fostered faster mitigation action. For example, in Mozambique, satellite findings were shared with stakeholders to highlight methane’s impact on climate and public health, sparking local initiatives to improve waste management practices.

How this impacts your landfill operations

Satellite monitoring delivers more than just data—it offers actionable insights. Here’s how it can work for you:

• Pinpoint hotspots: Satellites can locate exact emission sources, whether from hotspots at active dumpsites to unexpected leaks in newly built landfills. This precision allows you to address problems faster and more cost-effectively.
• Prioritize investments: Not all landfills are the same, and not all emissions require the same solutions. Data from satellites helps you decide where to allocate resources, whether it’s upgrading gas capture systems, covering high-emission areas, or planning infrastructure changes.
• Select optimal gas capture system locations: With satellite data, you can identify the best locations to install gas capture systems—targeting areas with the highest methane emissions for maximum impact.
• Ensure gas capture effectiveness: Satellite monitoring ensures your gas capture system is functioning as intended. Detecting leaks or cracks prevents methane from escaping and ensures you're not leaving money on the table. Operational optimization and profitability go hand-in-hand.
• Track effectiveness of mitigation efforts: Ongoing monitoring allows you to measure how effective your mitigation initiatives are, helping you demonstrate progress and adjust strategies as needed.
• Enhance safety: Methane is not only a greenhouse gas but also a safety risk. Accurate monitoring helps detect potential hazards early, protecting workers, nearby communities, and the environment.
• Prove your progress: Whether responding to community concerns, securing funding for improvements, or providing updates to stakeholders, accurate data speaks louder than words.
• Stay ahead of regulations: By proactively monitoring and addressing emissions, you can stay ahead of compliance requirements, avoid penalties, and build trust with regulators.

Ready to take control of methane at your landfill?

The above use case shows how satellite monitoring isn’t just about detection—it’s about delivering actionable insights that drive transformation. For landfill operators anywhere in the world, this use case serves as proof that tackling methane emissions doesn’t have to be overwhelming. The right tools and data can empower you to make progress quickly and effectively. By providing a complete view of methane emissions across vast areas, satellites allow operators to make informed decisions and turn challenges into opportunities for sustainability, community empowerment, and economic growth.

Methane may be invisible, but its impact doesn’t have to be. GHGSat’s satellite technology is here to help you identify, manage, and reduce emissions—saving you time, resources, and headaches along the way.

About GHGSat

GHGSat is the global leader in greenhouse gas emissions intelligence with the largest fleet of highresolution satellites and aerial sensors. The proprietary remote-sensing and patented technology detects and measures emissions from industrial facilities onshore and offshore accurately. With daily site monitoring services and third-party data intelligence, GHGSat provides reliable, cost-efficient, and actionable emission data for businesses, governments, and financial services, helping them address climate risk, optimize performance, and achieve their emission reduction targets.

To know more about our emissions reduction solutions, visit our website.

A growing number of technologies are taking to the skies to remotely detect leaking methane. Meanwhile, analysis frameworks are debuting down on Earth to make sense of the data. As these tools expand, so do their differences.

While the technology advances, state and federal regulatory frameworks largely remain the same. This means landfill operators or outside groups may rely on different standards for how to remotely measure emissions or talk about their findings. That could complicate the communication needed to reduce landfill methane through corporate goals or federal programs. 

On July 5, 2024, the U.S. EPA announced it is collecting information about "new technologies" that could be incorporated into updated emissions guidelines and standards of performance for MSW landfills. The EPA could eventually regulate how the technologies are deployed, a policy shift that some groups say needs to happen. 

“This is about moving from the needle-in-a-haystack to a much more accurate and effective approach of monitoring,” said Katherine Blauvelt, the circular economy director at Industrious Labs, a nonprofit focused on cutting emissions from industrial sectors. “This is not bleeding edge at all.”

While EPA data shows the waste sector’s greenhouse gas emissions have declined in recent years, municipal landfills still release the third-largest amount of human-generated methane in the U.S. Today, about 600 of those locations are required by the Clean Air Act to have a technician walk the surface once a quarter with a handheld methane detection tool.

According to Industrious Labs, these standard protocols might be missing crucial information. In a recent examination of EPA inspection reports, the group found that 21 of 22 examined locations had methane exceedances above 500 parts per million — the federal regulatory limit. It also found that site and federal records about emissions contradicted one another at 10 of these locations.

One way to solve this issue, Industrious Labs suggested, is to adopt more comprehensive and up-to-date methane technology.

Currently, EPA regulations don’t speak to the role that remote detection could play in monitoring and regulating this gas. However, policies for oil and natural gas systems — the second-largest source of methane emissions —do recognize these technologies. Revamped guidelines, effective May 7, allow the EPA to inform owners and operators about “super-emitter” data collected by agency-approved satellites and flyover gear. In some cases, owners will have to fix the source of the greenhouse gases.

Whether the technology is in orbit (like a satellite) or passes closer to the ground (like on a drone or plane), the systems aboard are spectrometers. These devices record light as it bounces off Earth’s atmosphere. More specifically, the spectrometer detects the exact wavelength that methane reflects. When flying past, the device takes a picture of how the methane-specific wavelength is behaving in one spot. An analytics system turns the photo into an estimate of how much methane a given location is emitting.

If the EPA set standards for how remote methane sensing will work in the oil and gas industry, said Blauvelt, then it can do the same for the waste sector. That’s why Industrious Labs is advocating for the federal agency to revise parts of the Clean Air Act to include super emitter interventions for MSW landfills that are similar to what was enacted for oil and gas.

Some remote sensors that could gain EPA approval and accomplish the same tasks for landfills have been operating for years. The commercial enterprise GHGSat, for example, has 12 satellites imaging emissions for fossil fuel and waste industry customers. Other possible remote sensors are just getting started.

Taking to the skies

Launched in March 2024, MethaneSAT is the first emissions detection device sent into orbit by an eight-party partnership including the Environmental Defense Fund, Google and Harvard University.

What looks like a gold box with solar panel wings will scan the Earth in 200 kilometer-wide swathes, creating images with a higher resolution than other devices of its kind that are already circling the globe and detecting methane. The satellite will also pick up on point sources releasing over 500 kilograms of methane per hour. A publicly available online portal will host the MethaneSAT data.

While the program is focusing on oil and gas for now, the satellite will eventually record emissions from waste facilities. 

Depending on when MethaneSAT starts its waste operations, Carbon Mapper might have its satellite watching landfills first. In 2024, the first satellite Carbon Mapper is launching as part of a broader coalition, named Tanager-1, will go into orbit looking at a range of major methane sources — from oil and gas to landfills to wastewater treatment plants.

The nonprofit, which blends university and philanthropic backing, has conducted all of its landfill methane sensing so far with EMIT aboard the International Space Station, AVIRIS-NG and the Global Airborne Observatory. The latter two use methane detection systems aboard airplanes and were part of a recent study from Carbon Mapper, published in Science, showing that just over half of all open U.S. landfills the team surveyed were significant sources of methane emissions.  

Measurements done via satellite are more cost-effective than when done by the plane-mounted technology, said Dan Cusworth, director of science at Carbon Mapper. How frequently the satellite will return to each of its targets has yet to be determined. Tanager will view swathes of 18-22 km at a time, so just because it cruises past a location doesn’t mean it can pick up all essential methane sources in the area. Carbon Mapper plans to launch at least one more future Tanager, with the goal of keeping a more regular schedule as more devices are in orbit.

As Carbon Mapper generates more data, the Waste Methane Assessment Platform can add it to its database.

Launched in December 2023, WasteMAP compiles landfill methane measurements and estimates into a single global map. Users can zoom in to specific landfills and see how many tons of methane each facility is estimated to release annually. This data, hosted by RMI, draws on direct readings like those from Carbon Mapper, as well as reported emissions from programs like the European Union’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research and results based on a modified version of the EPA’s Solid Waste Emissions Estimation Tool. 

Right now, each data source operates as an independent layer — no site-level emissions estimates are a blend of remote detection values and calculated emissions. Eventually, RMI would like to change that, but for the next few years, the priority will be adding more direct measurement data, said Ellie Garland, a senior associate with the organization focusing on industry methane emission reduction. For all the growth happening in remote methane detection, only a small fraction of facilities in the world have had their emissions assessed this way.

“The reason why we have this pretty complex architecture in place for WasteMAP is that as we start getting more data, we can start stitching it together,” said Tom Frankiewicz, who leads RMI’s efforts to mitigate emissions in waste management.

RMI is also talking to a range of other organizations to see if they’d like to contribute their information to WasteMAP. WM and the Environmental Research & Education Foundation recently worked with RMI on a playbook describing the role that detection technology could have for landfills. Frankiewicz said other waste companies and municipalities have reached out about using or adding to the tool, too.

In a written statement, WM said it deploys satellite, aerial and ground-based technologies and compares the collected datasets to get a sense of accuracy. WM also works with other organizations to evaluate the equipment.

Amy Banister, senior director of air programs at WM, elaborated further during a presentation at WasteExpo in May. In early 2024, WM selected seven sites to receive quarterly barrages of emission measurements from satellite, flyover and land-based detection gear.

“One of the challenges is trying to get all this technology to line up on the same day. It just doesn't happen,” Banister said. Though the ideal comparison approach would have all the technology operating together, weather and other conditions can mean that fitting all the measurements into a single week is a success. 

The company is also linked to three of the five projects that received Science to Achieve Results grant funding from the EPA in 2023 to study monitoring and modeling landfill emissions. With another program running test methane releases for monitoring at one landfill site, “we're really trying to hone in on the accuracy and reliability of these technologies before we pick our ponies,” Banister said.

Integrating feedback from a wide range of satellite, airplane and drone programs could be easier if a federal standard set protocols. Without guidance on how to deploy the different options and how resulting data is reported — and without incentives for remote detection in the first place — tying together inputs gets challenging, said Frankiewicz.

What’s next

While private initiatives are trying new technologies and figuring out how to integrate various readings, government initiatives to implement the same gear over landfills are farther behind.

Washington state, for example, announced updated landfill emission regulations this past May. The policy — which affects about two dozen sites — requires gas collection and control equipment and quarterly emissions testing, but the latter will be done by “instantaneous surface monitoring procedures.” According to an Industrious Labs report, the drafted rules “[fail] to provide for monitoring using improved technology.”

The same day that Washington state announced its new monitoring program, nine U.S. senators requested that the 2025 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill give the EPA funding to help states put satellite or flyover-based sensors into action over landfills. 

Some industry practitioners, such as environmental engineer Eugene Tseng, would like to see the array of detection technologies get even wider. Tseng, who is also an attorney, is currently working as an independent advisor with the Sunshine Canyon Landfill Local Enforcement Agency in California. He has also worked with Carbon Mapper, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other researchers on satellite-based and plane-based methane detection.

He said that the closer to real-time the aerial methane measurement is conveyed, the easier it is for his team to learn what’s causing any detectable leak — whether it is a crack in the cover or a new animal den. Delays from when flyover technology takes photos to when the calculated methane hotspot data is publicly available can sometimes be a month long. Making best use of the feedback requires matching the information with that day’s weather, barometric pressure, where material was tipped, waste types and more.

“I maybe spend about 1% of my time looking at the aerial imaging, but all the other stuff is looking at the actual operational data from all the different agencies and trying to make sense of that,” Tseng said. 

Ideally, Tseng said methane-detection rovers would scramble over landfills and provide instant feedback from mere inches above the surface — pinpointing the exact locations and conditions generating the emissions. 

WM’s Banister said the constant flux of operations at a landfill make it challenging to build single-site measurements into a broader assessment of long-term emissions. WM wants a greenhouse gas measurement system running by 2025 to help evaluate how well it’s approaching the goal of a 42% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2031, and is keeping its options open.

”We're realizing that there is no one technology to rule them all,” Banister said. “It's going to take a suite of technologies.”

Even if follow-up work is needed after a remote methane measurement to figure out the underlying causes, the eye-in-the-sky approach can at least identify priority areas, like leaks or super-emitters, more quickly. 

Blauvelt said a 2019 study published in Nature indicating that 10% of point sources identified in California accounted for 60% of all point source emissions supports this idea. The research team behind the paper relied on airborne methane imaging. Not applying a similar approach nationwide has consequences, she said.

“It's leaving just a ton of methane emissions on the table that could be better mitigated.”

Cole Rosengren contributed reporting to this story.

Disclosure: WasteExpo is run by Informa, the owner of Waste Dive’s publisher, Industry Dive. Informa has no influence over Waste Dive’s coverage.

A report from ReFED and the Global Methane Hub links emissions from the nation's top methane-producing sectors, such as agriculture and landfills, to food waste. It presents solutions with maximal impact on wasted food emissions both upstream and downstream of consumers.

The report underscores the importance of looking across supply chains to develop effective methane reduction strategies, Dana Gunders, president of food waste solutions nonprofit ReFED, said on a webinar.

"We are trying to paint the picture that when you are throwing out a burger, you're throwing out the upstream emissions ... and the downstream emissions," Gunders said. "We are trying to capture that altogether so that people can understand the power of wasted food emissions."

The report looks at 48 food product types across five supply sectors with 10 destinations. It emphasizes that strategies to reduce upstream emissions are likely to make the greatest immediate impact on methane emissions from wasted food. An estimated 2.5 million metric tons of the methane gas associated with food waste comes from production of the food, while about 1.5 million metric tons comes from downstream management and disposal activities like landfilling, per the report.

The total emissions encapsulated by those activities equal 107 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or the emissions from a quarter of all registered cars in the U.S. in a year.

The call for action comes amid a renewed focus on methane emissions in the United States spearheaded by the Biden administration. The U.S. is a signatory of the Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions 30% by 2030, and the administration has released a strategy to get there. Methane is about 24 times more potent than carbon dioxide on a 100-year time scale, but more than 80 times more potent on a 20-year time scale, leading scientists and groups like Global Methane Hub to identify reducing methane emissions as a key lever to reduce the worst impacts of climate change.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with the U.S. EPA, also released a National Strategy to Reduce Food Loss and Waste and Recycle Organics in June 2024. The strategy, which was announced by Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack at a ReFED event, outlines methods of halving food waste per capita by 2030. The EPA recently estimated that up to 40% of food is wasted in the country, leading to a sizable emissions impact. 

“This is like pulling the emergency brake on climate,” Carolina Urmeneta, director of the waste and circular economy program at Global Methane Hub, said. “We don't have one silver bullet, we need to have multiple approaches to address this.”

The report also highlighted the outsized impact of food waste in the emissions of disposal sites. The EPA has previously reported that food waste makes up about 24% of landfilled material but is responsible for 58% of fugitive landfill methane emissions, due in part to its rapid decay in such facilities. A sizable amount of methane is also generated in sewers, due in part to the amount of organic material sent down kitchen drains. 

The top solution for addressing food waste-related methane is centralized composting, according to ReFED's analysis. Consumer education campaigns, portion resizing, centralized anaerobic digestion and co-digestion at wastewater treatment plants round out the top five solutions.

ReFED also highlighted updates to its Insights Engine during the webinar. The tool allows users to compare the methane impact of dozens of solutions to wasted food, as well as measurements like cost and impact per dollar. 

GreenWaste, a California-based hauler and recycler, announced it has signed the North American waste industry’s first purchase agreement for Hyzon’s hydrogen fuel cell refuse vehicles. 

The company’s decision follows a recent pilot of the vehicles in multiple areas of northern California. The vehicles will operate in the Bay Area.

The company has agreed to purchase 12 vehicles, built in partnership by Hyzon and New Way Trucks. The first vehicles could be delivered by Q4 2025.

Hydrogen has been gaining attention as another alternative to diesel at a time when certain state and federal requirements are starting to force companies to take action to further reduce fleet emissions. Battery electric and compressed natural gas vehicles still remain the more common option for North American refuse haulers, especially CNG, but the hydrogen push has support from notable companies.

Hyzon and New Way debuted their vehicle at WasteExpo in May 2024, with an announcement that Recology would be the first company to test the vehicles on a trial basis. The California hauler reported positive results from its own pilot in August 2024, with CEO Sal Coniglio saying in an interview that the truck “is exceeding our expectations.” A showcase event that month drew the likes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Recology did not respond to a request for comment about whether it also plans to order any vehicles from Hyzon.

During its own trial period, GreenWaste said the vehicle “completed several trial routes throughout the Bay Area, testing for payload, can-lifts and range.” Tests were conducted on routes in areas such as San Jose, Santa Clara County, Atherton and Los Altos Hills.

“This latest investment in zero-emission technology reinforces our leadership within the industry and commitment to recovering, recycling, and reusing waste materials in the most innovative, environmentally responsible, and reliable ways possible,” said CEO Tracy Adams in a statement, noting the company had also previously “made history” by commercially operating the first full-size electric collection truck.

GreenWaste, which is a portfolio company of Macquarie, set targets in 2023 to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 45% by 2030, and have net-zero emissions by 2040. In its most recent report, released this year, GreenWaste said it had completed a transition to 100% renewable or alternative fuels for all equipment — including a mix of electric, natural gas and other sources.

While hydrogen is attracting investment and attention, it still faces questions about cost. During WasteExpo, a representative for the company said these fuel costs are expected to come down over time. He also touted the lighter weight and better power density of hydrogen fuel cells relative to other options.

“GreenWaste has been a long-time, valued New Way partner and, together with Hyzon, we are making the biggest steps forward to decarbonize the solid waste industry — with no compromise on range or dependency on the grid,” said Don Ross, chief sales officer for New Way, and chairman of the National Waste & Recycling Association, in a statement.

Earlier in 2024, Hyzon announced plans to narrow its focus to North America and prioritize core categories such as refuse collection vehicles. The company also recently announced it started production on a new single-stack 200kW fuel cell system that it said would allow for the manufacturing of these units “at volume for commercial sale.” 

Fueling infrastructure is also nascent, though GreenWaste said it is pursuing multiple options.

“We are exploring all long-term solutions for hydrogen fueling and have an interim solution in place for the initial FCEVs,” said Director of Communications Fredrick Ghai via email.

As electric collection trucks become more common, companies such as Coastal Waste and Recycling are beginning to experiment with electrified heavy equipment as well.

In February 2024, the Florida-based company announced plans to pilot a Volvo EC230 Electric excavator while also purchasing a Class 8 electric collection truck from Volvo Group subsidiary Mack Trucks.

“We are excited to add both pieces of equipment to our fleet,” said CEO Brendon Pantano in a release at the time. As the first private hauler in Florida to invest in electric, he said the firm “looks forward to harnessing the strength of this strategic move to further elevate innovation in our operations.”

Coastal has deployed its EC230 for MRF tasks and green waste operations at one of its waste processing sites north of Miami. The company already operated a large fleet of Volvo EC220 diesel excavators, which are considered virtually identical to the EC230 aside from the power source.

“We all knew eventually we'd have to be looking at different energy sources. It was the perfect opportunity because with their similarity, the learning curve for the transition was simple,” said Martin Mattsson, Volvo Construction Equipment’s director of strategic accounts in the waste industry. Furthermore, he said the arrangement will allow for side-by-side comparison in actual operations.

Coastal also worked closely with Mack to prepare for delivery of the truck.

“We had to look at numerous factors; including the charging apparatus and matching the vehicle to the application they wanted to use it on,” said Tyler Ohlmansiek, director of E-Mobility Sales at Mack Trucks. “We evaluated everything from the route density, to where it would be housed and how it would be run.”

Mack used a route recorder tool to analyze runs for the new collection truck, while assuring a service pipeline through a certified local Nextran Truck Centers dealership. Ohlmansiek said the company’s E-Mobility Ecosystem also provided resources, expertise, analysis and technical support to help ease the transition.

“We worked with Coastal’s in-house electrician to design and site the charging station for the truck at a facility where they regularly housed vehicles. We were able to take advantage of power already on site for some of their other uses,” he said.

Evolving performance

Battery-electric collection trucks are becoming an increasingly visible trend and industry groups are working to help advance research in this area.

The Solid Waste Association of North America has begun developing a survey of field results with alternative fuel and electric powered vehicles. Jeremy O’Brien, SWANA’s director of applied research, said the goal is to provide data that can help guide decision making during the transition to electric.

For example, he said SWANA found that Ocala, Florida, operates its electric trucks at an energy cost of about 66 cents per mile, comparing favorably with an average fuel expense for diesel trucks of $1.30 per mile. O’Brien said he hasn’t seen a central clearinghouse for operational performance data on electric collection vehicles, but said information is available. He suggested that anyone considering the conversion to electric should find an operation close in size to theirs with a similar service environment and ask them how they are doing before gradually making the transition.

Ray Gallant, Volvo Construction Equipment’s vice president for sustainability and productivity services, believes the time is right for going electric across collection vehicles and heavy equipment. While the transition so far has mainly been focused on converting existing equipment designs to the new power source, he expects that will evolve.

“The second and third generations are when you start designing around the fact that you are using electric drive and not only replace the power system, but use the characteristics of electric drive to add new capabilities to become more efficient and improve ease of operation,” he said. Gallant predicts that these future generations of heavy equipment will take further advantage of telematics, artificial intelligence, autonomous operation and other emerging technologies. 

Already, there are notable differences for operators in this first generation. 

“An electric motor can operate at 20% of full power or 80%, it doesn't matter. The variable load doesn't bother it at all,” Gallant said. “There is never any need to throttle the engine and rev up to perform a lift.”

Additionally, there are no exhaust fumes or engine noises to contend with, which the company said is a good fit for densely occupied urban areas or indoor environments. Mattsson said operators at Coastal have also been impressed by the cool climate and responsive controls in the cabin. 

“No one argues about the performance any more,” he said.

Energy and maintenance

Electric heavy equipment still remains a newer application than collection vehicles, with some fundamental challenges to resolve in the coming years.

“The first is the duty cycle and battery capacity, and understanding when we have to recharge,” said Gallant.

Coastal factored these charging cycles into its daily work schedule for the EC230. 

“They charge it overnight and start each morning with a full charge,” said Mattsson. “Around midday, they take it off duty and charge it for a couple of hours, doing what's called an opportunity charge, before moving on to the next task.” 

This particular unit is housed and operated from a separate site than Coastal’s Mack LR collection truck, but it uses the same model of charger which allows for interoperability across applications and facilities. 

Cost is also a factor for customers. Volvo encourages them to consider that within the context of potential maintenance savings, because there are a smaller number of moving parts in the electric excavator than a diesel model.

Gallant said that electric heavy equipment could yield a 60% to 80% operational cost savings compared with diesel. And when factoring in energy costs, he estimates there could be a 30% to 35% reduction in overall costs during the life of the unit.

Volvo currently has seven models of battery-electric construction equipment commercialized and plans to continue building its lineup of heavy equipment powered by alternative fuels. Its current offering includes six 48-volt models in various applications, along with the 600-volt EC230.

Gallant said the company's goal is “to have sustainable powered models for pretty well everything we make, where practicable, reasonable and feasible” over the next several years.

“They may not all be battery electric,” he said. “Some may be grid-connected machines, some of them may be hydrogen powered, with some, we may have to go with [hydrotreated vegetable oil] and alternate fuels. There are a variety of technologies coming into play.”

Business leaders across the economy struggle to meet circularity goals when they lack proper investment or adequate tools to measure progress, according to a new survey from Republic Services and The Harris Poll.

Republic released its findings in a report that includes its Circularity Index, which identifies what the company describes as solutions for better materials management.

The index pitches Republic Services, which serves about 13 million customers across roughly 1,000 locations in North America, as a partner in companies’ moves toward circularity. Republic has been investing in its recycling and hauling infrastructure, including by opening “polymer center” recycling facilities capable of breaking down plastic packaging. Its high degree of visibility into customers' disposal habits gives it the opportunity to target materials that go to disposal in landfills or incinerators and offer an alternative.

"As a key player in the circular economy, we are strategically focused on expanding recycling volume through innovative material handling processes and programs to help our customers achieve their goals related to sustainability and environmentally sound waste practices while also generating an appropriate return," the company noted in its annual report.

Executives on Republic's sustainability team discussed the findings of their Circularity Index, which surveyed 1,200 sustainability officers across 10 industries, on a webinar. The index measures a company’s progress versus its industry peers on three metrics:

• Commitment, which tracks “the extent to which leadership, resources, goals and budget are aligned with circularity-related initiatives.”
• Execution, which tracks “how well an organization plans, implements and measures their progress to achieve their circularity goals.”
• Recovery, which tracks “the degree to which an organization’s circularity programs are achieving waste minimization and diversion, along with increasing material reuse and recycling.” 

A company can reach one of five levels in each category, but the survey found that 45% of all respondents fell into the first two levels, indicating they have “novice” or “emerging” status in achieving their circularity goals. 

Through the survey, Republic’s sustainability team found that respondents sometimes overestimated their recycling commitments. A sizable majority of respondents in the early stages of achieving circularity said that they had implemented recycling across all of their facilities, but Republic's internal data shows only about 20% of its customers have recycling services.

"Those numbers aren't exactly adding up," Kristin Steiner, director of sustainability solutions at Republic, said on the call.

That "reality check" could be addressed with a more thorough accounting of a company's materials management practices, Steiner said. She described waste audits as an essential first step to recognize where a company's opportunities for circular improvements lie. The Circularity Index found that 87% of respondents say they're tracking diversion, but only 19% are calculating and publishing diversion rates, which could lead to a lack of accountability.

Once sustainability officers have identified their company’s opportunities for improvement and a reasonable metric for success, companies need to authorize spending to meet their goals, according to Tony Fritz, Republic Services’ director of sustainability.

"Putting capital to work is a key sign that a company is truly committed to a strategy," Fritz said.

Following an audit, prioritizing items that are high volume or high weight will make a difference, especially if a company has a weight-based diversion goal. The kinds of investment necessary to target those items could include a baler or compactor, floor space, training or added processing or hauling fees.

Some industries, particularly the consumer packaged goods and energy and utilities sectors, are leading on circularity, according to the report. Republic's leaders said this was due in part to a sophisticated regulatory environment, where programs like extended producer responsibility and minimum standards for postconsumer recycled content have driven innovation.

Companies hoping to catch up to those leaders can use the Circularity Index as a guide which provides case studies of successful circular initiatives. Fritz said those examples are emblematic in the “long-tailed opportunity” of taking the process of achieving circularity in stages — starting with certain materials or opportunities like plastic reduction and working outward from there.

“Change is good,” Fritz said. “These all started as strongly performing industries, but working through a circular model gave them opportunities to be even better so they could save on costs and save on their emissions.”

Republic Services also released a modified form of the assessment it used to create the report that anyone can complete online to determine their current level of circularity. 

Like some of its other large peers, Republic also offers consultations for companies looking to go deeper on improving their circularity.