Fecha de publicación: 13/01/2025 Fuente: Sustainability - Revista científica (MDPI) Sustainability, Vol. 17, Pages 563: Decarbonization of the Waste Industry in the U.S.A. and the European Union
Sustainability doi: 10.3390/su17020563
Authors:
Evan K. Paleologos
Abdel-Mohsen O. Mohamed
Dina Mohamed
Moza T. Al Nahyan
Sherine Farouk
Devendra N. Singh

Methane (CH4) emissions from the waste industry in the U.S.A. and the European Union (EU) have decreased by over 38% from 1990 to 2021. The success in CH4 emission reduction in the U.S.A. is attributable to two main reasons. Firstly, the increase in the recycling and composting share to 32% of managed waste, thus removing decomposable material from landfills, and secondly, the implementation of methane capture and utilization programs, which have reduced the CH4 released into the atmosphere from 1990 to 2022 by over 60%. By 2022, the EU had reduced landfilling to 23% of the total waste, with waste-to-energy and composting more than double that of their U.S. counterparts, and recycling alone attaining a share of 30%. The EU’s success has been the result of aggressive European legislation requiring biodegradable MSW going to landfills to be reduced by 2035 to 10% of that in 1995, and 65% of packaging waste to be retrieved and recycled by 2025. In terms of N2O emissions, in the EU there was a decrease from wastewater processes from 1990 to 2021, but an overall increase due to waste-to-energy operations, whereas in the U.S.A., both wastewater treatment and solid waste incineration appear to contribute to N2O emissions.