Landfills around the world release a lot of methane - study

STORY:

Landfills around the world release lots of methane due to decomposing food waste

Source: Science Advances study

A satellite-mounted detector showed high methane levels over cities in India, Pakistan and Argentina

High-resolution satellite images snapped in 2020 revealed the gas was coming from upwind landfills

One Mumbai landfill, for example, was putting out over 94,000 tons of methane per year

Meanwhile a Buenos Aires landfill emitted just under 276,000 annual tons

That’s half of the city's total methane emissions

Landfill waste is responsible for about 11% of global methane emissions

and is expected to increase about 70% by 2050 as the global population continues to climb

Source: World Bank

Mitigation steps might include food composting or capturing the methane for biogas