GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE – CASE STUDY OF JODHPUR

Abstract

Climate change is a global concern. Of the several factors causing global warming most prominent is growing urban land and cities around the world. Thus, leading to generation of huge amounts of wastes around the world. The dangerously high rate at which this waste is generated has led to unprecedented unplanned municipal solid waste (MSW) dumping in several nations and cities such as Jodhpur. Aerobic and anaerobic decomposition of municipal solid waste leads to emanation of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the landfills. The landfill gases mainly consists of Methane (CH4) (~50- 60%) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) (~30-40%).CH4 is the most existent GHG with 25-time capacity of global warming than any other gas. Emission of methane gas from landfills in proximate surroundings lay a great danger to humans and environment. The emission inventory is a specific tool for identifying and quantifying the main sources of greenhouse gases and sinks, which is essential to address climate change. Several researches tried estimating emissions from various inventories of different sources along a long and varying period of time in India (Mitra 1991). India’s Second National Communication on Climate Change has given a brief but powerful description of India’s greenhouse gas inventory for different sectors. In communication with UNFCCC, India proposed to continue to develop better greenhouse gas emission inventories in a more comprehensive manner. One of the key areas identified is an estimate of methane emissions from selected landfills or open landfills or waste management plants. Aware of the importance of the greenhouse gas inventory and its importance for better policy development, several attempts have been made to document the greenhouse gas inventory and estimate the energy generation potential from the municipal solid waste generated within the municipal boundary.