• February 7, 2013
• By WRN Staff

This editorial appeared in the Feb. 4 print issue of Waste & Recycling News.

In these sober times, as we battle our way through our workdays, laboring more and earning less than we should, it's tough to find the time to relax, let alone a moment to reflect on deeper thoughts, like the legacy we will leave.

But let's take a second and do it.

We might be tempted to focus on the successes – technology, security, economic prosperity – but our grandchildren will likely judge us on our failures. And the most devastating one will almost certainly be uttered with one word: climate.

Researchers last month announced that the Earth warmed about a full degree Fahrenheit during 2012. It marked the 36th consecutive year that the global temperature landed above the average. The first 12 years of the 21st century? They are all among the 14 warmest in the 133-record of global temperature record-keeping.

We know that part of the problem is garbage. Landfills are the third largest man-made source of methane, a gas that traps heat in the atmosphere more than 20 times more effectively than carbon dioxide.

Thankfully, many in the solid-waste industry realize the crisis, the challenge – and the opportunity.

The EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program hosted its annual conference last week in Baltimore. Even in the age of reduced travel budgets, the event saw record attendance, with almost 700 attendees preregistered. Among the news at the event was word that more than 600 landfill gas projects are now operational in the U.S. And there is potential for that number to one day top 1,000.

These projects are working. From 1990 to 2010, landfill methane emissions dropped 27% while the country's GDP rose 63%.

So many folks outside our industry don't even know that landfill gas is being used as a renewable energy source, let along that it provides, according to government data, more than twice the energy to U.S. consumers and businesses than solar power. But what gets more attention — and support?

The growth in LFG projects has been steady, moderate and commendable. But we want more: more grants, more tax breaks, more incentives and more attention from lawmakers and the public.

Let's floor the landfill-gas pedal.

Our legacy rides on it.

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