There is a direct link between landfill and climate change. You can look at this in two ways:

1) Landfill generates global warming gases. It's simple – the more we put into the landfill the more climate change gases are emitted.

2) Assigning our ‘waste’ to landfill locks up the energy used to produce the items in the first place. (See my next Blog How much energy is in our bins? if you don't believe me)

Darren’s Not Alone

Darren just didn’t get it. Like many people in the UK, he found it hard to relate recycling to climate change. He’s probably already gone through more than 60 pairs of boxers since filming finished. He’s even bought another motorcycle and taken three more holidays. Yet, at one level maybe he’s got a point? If we’re not doing everything we can to reduce greenhouse gases, why should he bother? We are constantly reminded that we need an 80% cut in the amount of greenhouse gas we pump out or, climate-wise, WE’RE STUFFED.

The more waste sent to landfill the more greenhouse gases are emitted. Some greenies argue that’s fine if we capture the methane and use it for energy. I agree to a point. But, surely we must reduce what we put in landfill in the first place. However, the very least we can do is convert the emitted gases into energy. Initially, between 5m3 to 10m3 of methane is produced per tonne of waste per year. Every tonne of biodegradable waste produces 300-500 cubic metres of landfill gas. According to the UK Government landfill sites released 20% of the UK's methane emissions. This is a potential resource.

Stopping or capturing all the methane emitted from UK landfill would have a short term (10-15 years) impact equivalent of the UK’s entire emissions associated with cars. In other words – Britain would meet its international commitments immediately and have time to carefully introduce effective CO2 policies.

So Why Should You Light Your Farts?

Some ‘carbon offset’ projects consist of combusting or containing methane generated by landfills. Methane has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) 21 times that of CO2; when combusted, each molecule of methane is converted to one molecule of CO2, thus reducing the global warming effect by 96%. Methane can also be contained using an anaerobic digester, and used to produce electricity or heat. Well-managed landfills put this back into the national grid.

So, if Darren really wants to do his bit maybe he should just light his own farts to reduce their environmental impact by 96%...

Some Technical Info on Landfill:

For the techies out there, decomposition, production of gases and mitigation of climate change impacts:

1) When a landfill site is first set up there is a high proportion of oxygen present in the mass of waste. As this waste becomes damp from the seepage of rainfall, aerobic degradation takes place, producing carbon dioxide and sometimes other gases such as hydrogen.

2) As the oxygen is used up, and under the right temperature and acidity conditions, anaerobic degradation begins to take place, producing methane, hydrogen sulphide and more carbon dioxide.

3) It takes approximately two years for a landfill to start generating gases at a reasonably stable rate, and at this stage the main constituents are methane (70%) and carbon dioxide (30%) with small amounts of hydrogen, hydrogen sulphide and other trace gases.

4) Initially, between 5m3 to 10m3 of methane is produced per tonne of waste per year.

5) After 20 years the quantity of gas produced will reduce by approximately 85%.