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Please see EPA's Climate Change site for current information on climate change and global warming. EPA no longer updates EPA's Global Warming Site, but is maintaining this archive for historical purposes. Thank you for visiting the archive of EPA's Global Warming Site.
Reports, Papers, and Presentations
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The following reports and presentations discuss different aspects of the link between climate change and municipal solid waste.
 Solid Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases: A Life-Cycle Assessment of Emissions and Sinks
This report is the second edition of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Management of Selected Materials in Municipal Solid Waste. The report explores the linkages between waste management and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and quantifies the emissions associated with source reducing, recycling, composting, incinerating, and landfilling a variety of materials and mixed material waste streams.
EPA is continuously improving its emission factors and occasionally publishes new or updated factors. While the methodology for new emission factors is not included in the main report, EPA has published addenda detailing methods used. Both the main report and the addenda provide solid explanations regarding the methodology used to develop these factors; however, users should refer to the updated emission factors, which can be viewed in units of MTCE or MTCO2E, when conducting calculations. The evolution of these emission factors is discussed in the Emission Factor Roadmap (87.5 KB pdf). Note that the emission factors represent the GHG emissions associated with managing 1 short ton of MSW in the manner indicated. GHG savings should be calculated by comparing the emissions associated with the alternative scenario with the emissions associated with the baseline scenario, as opposed to simply multiplying the quantity by an emission factor.
Energy Impacts of Waste Management (104.3 KB pdf)
This paper summarizes the energy impacts of waste management for common material types, utilizing the life-cycle analysis data from EPA's GHG and municipal solid waste management report listed above. The paper provides a table of energy factors for different waste management methods and a methodology for calculating the energy impacts of different waste management practices. This paper was last updated December, 2005.
 EPA's Climate and Waste General Audience Presentation (584.8 KB pdf)
This presentation provides an overview of EPA's Climate Change and Waste Program by describing the program's research and technical assistance, program implementation, and outreach and education activities. It also provides an overview of climate change, the associated environmental impacts of climate change, GHG emissions from the waste sector, and the linkage between waste management practices and GHG emissions.
Estimating GHG Reductions from State Actions (171.1 KB pdf)
This is a helpful reference document for states planning to incorporate municipal solid waste management actions into statewide GHG mitigation action plans. It includes a sample plan for waste management mitigation actions. See the State Actions section for other examples of state mitigation plans.
The Climate and Energy Case for Recycling, EPA Presentation (719.5 KB pdf)
This presentation discusses the connection between recycling and reducing energy use and GHGs. The presentation also discusses how to calculate the net benefits associated with recycling and provides an overview of the WAste Reduction Model (WARM), which may assist in this calculation.
What are the Benefits of Recycling?, EPA Presentation (850 KB pdf)
This presentation discusses the GHG benefits associated with recycling. It also addresses the importance of business recycling from a GHG perspective. Finally, the presentation provides an overview of how to use WARM to calculate the GHG benefits associated with recycling.
Analyzing What's Recyclable in C&D Debris (104.8 KB pdf)
This paper investigates the average material content of construction and demolition (C&D) debris. It reports on the percentage composition of concrete, wood, drywall, metal, and other materials in the C&D waste stream and lays the foundation for estimating the waste reduction potential through reuse and recycling efforts.
The Bottomline on Buying Recycled (135.2 KB)
Using specific business examples, this article explains how companies can improve their bottomline by using recycled inputs in the materials they buy or produce, since recycled-content materials often cost less to purchase or manufacture. Other benefits include better rates from insurance companies and banks, and meeting goals of federal, state, or local GHG reporting programs.
PSEG – Devoting Energy to Waste Reduction (213 KB pdf)
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has demonstrated its ability to meet the needs of customers while reducing its waste and GHG production – and saving money. PSEG's waste reduction efforts have reduced its waste disposal by 500,000 tons and the associated life-cycle GHG emissions by 52,476 MTCE. This case study describes the initiatives PSEG undertook to meet its waste reduction goals.
General Motors – Reducing It's Environmental Footprint (256 KB pdf)
General Motors (GM) has established itself as an industry leader in tackling its waste-related GHG emissions. By reducing its generation of targeted wastes by 35 percent between 1998 to 2002, GM reduced its GHG emissions by more than 1.2 MTCE. This case studies describes the actions GM took to achieve these reductions.
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