SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): A group of 21 U.S. lawmakers urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure stringent guidelines so as to curb emission of landfill gases including methane. The letter has also been endorsed by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). 

In the letter sent to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the lawmakers demanded that the agency need to open a rulemaking ahead of the August deadline by implementing the latest technology towards emissions tracking and control. The New Source Performance Standards and Emissions Guidelines for municipal solid waste landfills needs to be strengthened, they demanded.

The lawmakers noted that stronger EPA standards for landfills are critical to reduce methane emissions, promote environmental justice and achieve its ambitious climate commitments. The letter warned that landfills are said to be third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the country. Most of the methane generated by landfilled food waste reaches the atmosphere as fugitive emissions.

The methane generated by decomposition of organic waste in landfills are said to have 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide on a 20-year period.