Tag: landfills

Tackling Landfill Methane Emissions

Landfill photo credit: iStock

Tackling CH4 emissions from landfills (start time: 5:59) Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, and its emissions have been rising recently in the U.S.  The largest source of methane emissions is oil and gas production, followed by livestock farming. The third largest source of methane emissions is landfills.  Food scraps, yard debris, paper and cardboard products and other carbon-based detritus that pile up in landfills release methane and other chemicals as they decompose in the soil. As part of the state’s goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is developing new, and stricter, rules  that will require landfill operators to do more to monitor and capture methane emissions. KGNU host Susan Moran interviews Clay Clarke, director of the Climate Change Program at CDPHE; and Madison Hall, an associate with the Rocky Mountain Institute‘s US Program. For info on the Feb. 26 final public hearing on the  methane rule, click here.

Show Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Jackie Sedley
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Headline Contributors: Beth Bennett, Joel Parker

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Composting & Carbon Farming

Eco-Cycle truck dumping organic waste at a compost facility. Photo credit: Dan Matsch
Eco-Cycle truck dumping organic waste at a compost facility. Photo credit: Dan Matsch

Why Compost? (start time: 7:01) Many of us may feel a little less guilty letting fruits and vegetables go bad, because we figure that this waste, thanks to curbside compost pickup, will be turned into nutritious food for crops, lawns or grasslands down the road. And landfills will spew less methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. The story of food waste and reuse is a complicated one. Our two guests are working on getting composting right — and ultimately on how to make our food-production and consumption systems more sustainable, starting here on the Front Range.  Dan Matsch directs the compost department for Eco-Cycle, the nonprofit recycler that works with cities along the Front Range. He also directs Eco-Cycle’s Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM). Mark Easter is an ecologist at Colorado State University’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.  Matsch and Easter discuss with host Susan Moran the journey of a rotten zucchini, how composting is tied to the emerging practice of carbon farming, and how we all do our part.

Calendar advisory: Join KGNU and Eco-Cycle on Thursday, January 31, at the Longmont Museum (6:30 to 8:00 P.M) for a special community conversation on plastic waste–challenges and solutions. The event will include representatives from Eco-Cycle, the Inland Ocean Coalition, and local business and sustainability leaders. For more info, go to this website.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Chip Grandits
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Chip Grandits
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional contributions: Beth Bennett

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