Research project: Assessing the Carbon Footprint of Wales' Municipal Solid Waste Management
Waste management contributes around 3.2% to the UK’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and generates signification emissions of methane (CH4). As efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of future climate change increase, the reduction of GHG emissions from waste management has become a priority area for policy-makers. As part of a broader Sustainable Development Scheme, One Wales: One Planet, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) has outlined a Municipal Sector Plan that promotes sustainable development in the municipal solid waste (MSW) management industry and has set two key targets for 2050; achieving zero waste and reducing net national GHG emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels. Furthermore, the WAG’s Climate Change Strategy for Wales sets a target for a 3% reduction in emissions per year until 2050 – of which waste management is expected to contribute an annual 0.21% reduction or 0.66 MtCO2-equivalent. For these ambitious targets to be met, it is essential for the WAG to be able to accurately assess the GHG impacts – known commonly as the ‘carbon footprint’ – associated with the existing MSW management system so that GHG mitigation opportunities can be identified and to enable comparisons with alternative systems and technologies to be drawn.