Abstract Description: It is essential that the solid waste industry is actively engaged in developing proper methodologies that accurately portray the important role that landfills, waste management sites, and their operations play in carbon reduction planning. With an increased focus on climate change and sustainability, landfills that were once considered controlled are being looked at under a new microscope. We know that reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting are strategies that can lessen the environmental impact of goods, but it is going to take more than that to really make a difference. What changes can be made to how waste is managed, whether that is disposal in a landfill or diversion from landfill altogether, and how do these changes impact greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and sustainability? Site-specific carbon footprints can help to answer these questions and can identify small changes at the market level that can have big impacts at a higher-level perspective, supplying vital contributions in meeting overall sustainability goals. Determining a landfill’s carbon footprint will allow owners and operators to compare their operations to other landfills, set a benchmark, as well as track annual changes, identify areas of improvement, and help to develop carbon reduction goals. Preparing a site-specific carbon footprint can aid in strategic future planning for landfill owners to communicate their carbon reduction achievements. This presentation will present data on the carbon footprints of several sites and show that landfills can be carbon neutral and even carbon negative. We will discuss how we developed a carbon baseline, and what carbon emissions and reductions were included in these carbon footprints. We will also introduce how other useful market level data can be included to aid in building a full sustainability picture.
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