Carbon credits for sustainable waste management projects

Globalization, rapid urbanization, unabated consumerism and overdependence on animal products are all fueling waste generation at levels never seen before. If not managed appropriately, this waste could end up in our oceans, contaminate ground as well as surface water sources, cause respiratory stress and exacerbate occurrences of diseases. However, concerns around mismanagement of waste are not just limited to the above-mentioned effects. A greater and perhaps more pressing issue is the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from waste management activities. The source of these emissions can be broadly classified under the following heads

  • Emissions from solid waste disposal sites;
  • Emissions from livestock and agriculture practices;
  • Emissions from wastewater management;
  • Emissions from incineration of waste

If not handled cautiously the above sources can result in emissions of nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) in addition to methane, which is the principal GHG released during anaerobic digestion of organic waste.

The waste sector’s combined contribution to anthropogenic methane emission amounts to an enormous 60% with municipal solid waste & industrial wastewater accounting for 20% and agriculture & livestock sector accounting for 40% (Global Methane Assessment, UNEP) of all methane emissions. Being nearly eighty times more potent than carbon dioxide over a twenty-year period, reducing methane emission thus became a major talking point for restricting global warming to 1.5C at COP26 where more than 120 countries agreed to curb methane emissions by 30% of 2020 levels by 2030 in Glasgow.

Fortunately, the technologies available for avoiding methane emissions in the waste sector are well established. These range from simple interventions such as sanitary landfills, composting, anaerobic digestion, mechanical recycling to more advanced processes such as smart waste bins, plasma gasification for waste-to-energy, pyrolysis, aerated static pile composting, bottle to bottle PET recycling etc.

One may wonder then why, in the presence of well proven technologies, sustainable waste management continues to be hard to achieve goal.

There are many factors that act as barriers, the most important of them being financial constraint. Sustainable Waste management technologies have high investment and high maintenance costs. The other factors which impede widespread uptake are inadequate incentivization for waste collection and treatment, gaps in policy implementation, lack of infrastructure, operational complexity and sometimes a general apathy towards waste.

While stronger regulations and change in cultural perception resulting from heightened awareness about sustainable waste treatment remain high on priority list, barriers associated with insufficient finance for implementation, expansion of infrastructure and development of advanced technologies in the sector can be alleviated through carbon finance which can be used supplemental revenue in addition to the traditional revenue sources.

In the last 10 years, waste sector projects have claimed an average of 2.4 billion emission reductions annually under Clean Development Mechanism alone. Under the Verified Carbon Standard, which is the most dominant GHG program in the voluntary market, the volume of issuances under this sector was lower than CDM but still added to 38.1 million VCUs (Verified Carbon Units) between 2009 to 2024. Roughly 40% of these came from landfill projects, and 30% each from animal manure management and wastewater handling. If these numbers are anything to go by, the trend points towards growing reliance of waste management projects on carbon financing for achieving commercial viability.

Carbon finance not only brings additional sources of revenue but also promotes the uptake of more advanced sustainable management technologies, tipping the scale in favor of more efficient projects involving methane avoidance and their subsequent utilization or destruction as compared to traditional baseline low cost but less efficient options.

For project developers who wish to use carbon credits for their sustainable waste management projects, there are several impact quantification methodology options available under different GHG programs. These methodologies provide provisions for core elements of project design. They include key information such as applicable project categories, steps to demonstrate project’s additionality, process for identifying the most plausible baseline scenario, equations for estimation of emission reductions and the plan for monitoring them.

The generic cycle for developing a project under any GHG mechanism consists of 7 basic steps. It starts with project planning, documentation, validation by GHG auditor, registration, monitoring, verification by GHG auditor and ends when credits are issued.

Generic steps for developing a project under GHG mechanism

Finally, connecting carbon revenues to waste sector projects ensures their long-term viability.  We need an efficient and functional waste management system to address issues such as contamination of air and water, climate change and disease burden and carbon credits offer a lucrative option for projects in this sector which are struggling due to insufficient financial returns or ones facing technological, cultural or prevailing practice barriers.

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