Global Climate Change and the California Integrated Waste Management Board

• Report: "Technologies and Management Practices for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Landfills"

Today there is growing concern about climate change and global warming and how it could impact our environment and our lives. Caring for the environment is an integral part of the California Integrated Waste Management Board's (CIWMB) mission. At the CIWMB, we are ensuring the State reduces waste so that we all leave a smaller environmental footprint. Our actions today provide the foundation for securing and conserving the quality of our environment for generations to come.

In California and throughout western North America, signs of a changing climate are evident. Over the last 50 years, winters and springs have been getting warmer, and more precipitation has been falling as rain instead of snow. Less snow has been accumulating in the mountains, flowers have been blooming earlier, and snowmelt has been coming 5 to 30 days earlier in the spring.

These regional changes are consistent with broader, global scale ones. From 1900 through 1970, the average global temperature rose by about 0.1°F (0.06°C) per decade. Since then, the rate of warming has increased markedly, to about 0.5°F (0.3°C) per decade. During the last 1,000 years, observations suggest that the 10 warmest years all occurred after 1990. Much of the warming during the last four decades is due to the increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases released by human activities.

Since it is human activity that results in higher concentrations of greenhouse gases, things we do daily can directly impact our climate. That holds true for what we throw away, as well as what we recycle. Preventing waste and recycling can significantly reduce greenhouse gases produced in the mining, transporting and processing of raw materials for the manufacturing of goods. It is wasteful to throw away products after a single use. We can choose to significantly reduce waste by purchasing and reusing products made from recycled materials.

The combustion of fuels results in the release of carbon dioxide, a common greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. By reducing our fuel consumption and our use of energy, we can leave a smaller environmental footprint. Moreover, organic materials (green waste, paper, cardboard, etc.) buried in landfills can generate significant amounts of methane gas. This is a concern to us because methane is 21 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. In California, most of our waste already goes to landfills with gas recovery systems to handle the methane and we are working to further increase the efficiency of collecting methane and converting it to energy. Yet, there is still room for improvement when it comes to reducing our waste and using our throw-away materials as resources. For these reasons, we all need to work to reduce what we throw out and recycle as much as we can. Reuse and recycling are key parts of the climate change solution.

• Recycling and Waste Management Subgroup
• California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
• California Climate Action Team Directives for the California Integrated Waste Management Board
• Considered Actions Under Public Review
• Frequently Asked Questions

California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32, Núñez, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006) established the first-in-the-world comprehensive program of regulatory and market mechanisms to achieve real, quantifiable, cost-effective reductions of GHGs. It made the Air Resources Board (ARB) responsible for monitoring and reducing GHG emissions. It also acknowledged the Climate Action Team (CAT) as the entity to coordinate statewide efforts.

In response to AB 32 (Adobe PDF, 112 KB), all State agencies are looking at early action measures or measures to reduce GHGs that can quickly be implemented while the rest of the measures are being developed. The CIWMB has been analyzing several such measures including: increasing methane capture at landfills, increasing recycling, and increasing diversion of organic materials. For more information, see the presentations and analyses from the CIWMB's May 2007 workshop.

California Climate Action Team Directives for the California Integrated Waste Management Board

The Climate Action Team (CAT) is comprised of State Agency Secretaries, Board and Commission Chairs, and other key representatives of State agencies. Established by Governor Schwarzenegger's Executive Order S-03-05 in June 2005, the CAT considers issues of global warming, climate change, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as they affect the state. The CAT has developed a list of GHG emission reduction strategies that the State agencies are committed to achieving. The CIWMB is an important member of the CAT with its efforts to reduce GHG emissions by implementing the following three strategies:

1. Achieve 50 Percent Statewide Recycling Goal

The CIWMB was the first State Agency to achieve one of its GHG emission reduction strategies. The first strategy was to achieve the State's 50 percent waste diversion mandate as established by the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, (AB 939, Sher, Chapter 1095, Statutes of 1989), to reduce GHG emissions associated with energy intensive material extraction and production as well as methane emission from landfills. At the time the strategy was developed, the State had achieved a diversion rate of 48 percent on a statewide basis. Currently, California is diverting 54 percent statewide of the waste that would have previously gone to landfills. This strategy resulted in achieving additional waste diversion of recyclables from landfills using existing authorities and mandates, collection infrastructures, and recycling processes.

Diverting this material, not only reduces GHGs but also reduces our energy dependency by:

• Reusing our products more than once so that new ones don't need to be manufactured.
• Providing recyclable materials as resources to produce new products.
• Reducing demands to harvest virgin resources in the manufacture of new products.

2. Landfill Methane Capture

Methane production varies greatly from landfill to landfill depending on site-specific characteristics such as the quantity of waste in place, the type of waste buried, moisture content, landfill design and operating practices, and local climate. This methane may be released to the atmosphere as a potent greenhouse gas unless captured and controlled.

Currently, landfill gas control systems that destroy methane are currently operating for the vast majority of waste in California landfills. Approximately 94 percent of the total statewide estimated 1.2 billion tons of waste-in-place is contained in landfills with full control systems. All landfills that contain greater than 5 million tons have controls. There are currently 32 landfills that contain a total of 0.5 to 3.8 million tons and are generating landfill gas that have partial, perimeter, or no such control systems. The methane, if collected, can then be treated by burning it in a combustion device, transporting it directly to an end user, generating electricity, or transforming it to a useful fuel such as compressed or liquefied natural gas. However, the technical applicability of any of the more sophisticated options are dependent on the amount of landfill gas a facility can generate.

The Landfill Methane Capture strategy includes the following components:

• Install new methane control systems at landfills currently without control systems.
• Maximize landfill methane capture efficiencies through optimizing landfill design, operation, and closure/postclosure practices.
• Increase recovery of landfill gas that is currently flared as a biomass renewable energy source to avoid emissions from fossil fuel energy sources.

3. Zero Waste--High Recycling

Additional recovery of recyclable materials from landfills will reduce the GHG emissions associated with energy intensive material extraction and production as well as methane emission from landfills. Transforming organics/biomass and plastic waste into marketable products will also reduce the amount of material going to landfill, and therefore will further reduce GHG emissions. Currently, the State is mandated to divert 50 percent of waste going to landfills as established by the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989. Exceeding the 50 percent diversion mandate results in additional reductions in GHG emissions.

Considered Actions Under Public Review

A draft document (Adobe PDF, 178 KB), Climate Action Team Proposed Early Actions to Mitigate Climate Change in California, is currently undergoing the public review process.

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