GHGRP and the Waste Industry
The waste industry consists of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, industrial waste landfills, industrial wastewater treatment systems, and facilities that operate combustors or incinerators for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste. About 90% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the waste sector reported to the GHGRP are methane emissions. Methane is a potent GHG with a global warming potential more than 25 times that of carbon dioxide and is responsible for approximately one-third of current warming from human activities.
Relevant GHGRP Subparts
The GHGRP specifies reporting requirements for a wide range of emission sources and entities across the waste industry. It requires affected owners or operators to collect GHG data, calculate GHG emissions, and follow the specified procedures for quality assurance, missing data, recordkeeping, and reporting. Access GHG data highlights for the waste industry.
Subpart HH – Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfills
Subpart HH applies to MSW landfills that accepted waste on or after January 1, 1980, and generate methane in amounts equivalent to 25,000 mt CO2e or more per year. MSW landfills are disposal facilities that receive household waste, commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, conditionally exempt small quantity generator waste, and/or industrial solid waste.
Subpart TT – Industrial Waste Landfills
Subpart TT applies to industrial waste landfills that accepted waste on or after January 1, 1980, and that are located at a facility whose total landfill design capacity is greater than or equal to 300,000 metric tons (tonnes). Industrial waste landfills are landfills other than an MSW landfill and that accept or have accepted primarily industrial wastes. This subsector excludes landfills that accept hazardous waste and those that receive only construction and demolition or other inert wastes.
Subpart II – Industrial Wastewater Treatment
Subpart II applies to industrial wastewater treatment facilities that consist of anaerobic processes, including lagoons, reactors, and anaerobic sludge digesters, used to treat nonhazardous industrial wastewater and industrial wastewater treatment sludge at facilities that perform pulp and paper manufacturing, food processing, ethanol production, or petroleum refining.
Waste Industry Overview Diagram
The GHGRP covers emissions from different aspects of the waste industry through several of its subparts. Click on a number in the diagram below to find out how the GHGRP addresses emissions from different components of the waste industry by collecting information from the three subparts described above, as well as solid waste combustion emissions reported under subpart C.
| Legend # | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Household Waste: Household waste is trash or garbage that originates from everyday use patterns in individual households, hotels, motels, and other similar permanent or temporary housing establishments and facilities. Household waste goes to municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. Reporting of GHG emissions and related data from applicable household waste in MSW landfills is required under subpart HH (Municipal Solid Waste Landfills) and/or subpart C (General Stationary Fuel Combustion) of the GHGRP. |
| 2 | Commercial Solid Waste: Commercial and institutional solid waste is generated by places of business, trade, recreation, education, sport, or entertainment. Reporting of GHG emissions and related data from applicable commercial and institutional solid waste in MSW landfills is required under subpart HH (Municipal Solid Waste Landfills), subpart TT (Industrial Waste Landfills), and/or subpart C (General Stationary Fuel Combustion) of the GHGRP. |
| 3 | Industrial Solid Waste: Industrial solid waste is generated by manufacturing or industrial processes such as Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle D wastes. This does not include hazardous waste regulated under RCRA Subtitle C. Waste types may include, but are not limited to, waste from manufacturing properties such as iron and steel manufacturing, nonferrous metals manufacturing, pulp and paper industry, etc. |
| 4 | Industrial Wastewater: Water containing waste from an industrial process. Industrial wastewater includes water which comes into direct contact with or results from the storage, production, or use of any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, by-product, or waste product. Examples of industrial wastewater include, but are not limited to, paper mill white water, wastewater from equipment cleaning, wastewater from air pollution control devices, rinse water, contaminated stormwater, and contaminated cooling water. |
| HH | Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfills (Subpart HH): MSW landfills are defined under subpart HH of GHGRP as landfills that accepted waste on or after January 1, 1980 and generate methane (CH4) in amounts equivalent to 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent or more per year. Reporting of GHG emissions and related data from MSW landfills is required under subpart HH of GHGRP. This category includes emissions from the landfill, landfill gas collection systems, and destruction devices for landfill gases (including boiler, engines, and flares). Read more about subpart HH. |
| TT | Industrial Waste Landfills (Subpart TT): Industrial waste landfills accepted waste on or after January 1, 1980 and are located at a facility whose total landfill design capacity (the maximum amount of solid waste a landfill can accept) is greater than or equal to 300,000 tons. Reporting of GHG emissions and related data from industrial waste landfills is required under subpart TT of GHGRP. This category includes emissions from the landfill, landfill gas collection systems, and destruction devices for landfill gases (including flares). Read more about subpart TT. |
| II | Industrial Wastewater Treatment (Subpart II): Industrial wastewater treatment systems use anaerobic processes to treat industrial wastewater and wastewater treatment sludge that originates from pulp and paper manufacturing, food processing, ethanol production, and petroleum refining. Reporting of GHG emissions and related data from industrial wastewater treatment systems are required under subpart II of GHGRP. The anaerobic treatment processes included under subpart II are anaerobic reactors, anaerobic lagoons, anaerobic sludge digesters, and biogas destruction devices. Read more about subpart II. |
| C | Solid Waste Combustion (Subpart C): Solid waste combustion consists of combustors and incinerators for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste. Solid waste combustion is done in order to reduce the volume of the waste. Reporting of GHG emissions and related data from solid waste combustion is required under subpart C of GHGRP. Read more about subpart C. |
| 5 | Emissions Stack: Emissions from stationary combustion units associated with waste not sent to landfills or wastewater treatment systems. |
| 6 | Onsite Gas Collection Systems: Gas collection systems (GCS) is a system of pipes used to collect landfill gas (LFG) from different locations in the landfill. GCS can consist of vertical wells, horizontal wells, leachate management components, under cap collectors and other applicable devices. They are designed based on expected LFG generation and collection and control objectives. GCS designs can vary greatly on a regional basis or even a site basis due to types of waste streams accepted, climate, operational goals and waste filling practices. Collection system operators “tune” or adjust the wellfield to improve collection. |
| 7 | Onsite or Offsite Destruction Device: A destruction device includes boilers, engines, flares, or any other combustion unit used to destroy or oxidize methane contained in landfill gas (LFG). Destruction of methane in LFG can occur both onsite or offsite of the waste facility and leads to reductions in emissions from sites. |
| 8 | Passive Flares or Passive Vents: A passive flare is a device for igniting and burning LFG. A passive vent flare operates periodically based on gas flow and quality. Flares are used to control LFG emissions, as well as gas that exceeds the capacity of the system and prevent methane from being released into the atmosphere. Flare designs include open (or candlestick) flares and enclosed flares. A passive vent is a pipe or a system of pipes that allow landfill gas to flow naturally to the surface of a landfill where an opening or pipe (vent) allows for the free flow of LFG to the atmosphere or to a passive vent flare without diffusion through the top layer of surface soil. |
| 9 | Biogas Recovery: biogas is recovered from a variety of sources including municipal solid waste landfills, digesters at water resource recovery facilities (wastewater treatment plants), livestock farms, food production facilities and organic waste management operations. After cleanup and treatment, biogas can be used in a variety of energy applications, including
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| 10 | No Biogas Recovery: industrial wastewater treatment systems with no biogas recovery systems are likely to report emissions from leakages throughout the system. |