{"id":35501,"date":"2026-08-09T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=35501"},"modified":"2026-08-09T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:00:00","slug":"new-jersey-landfill-emitted-five-times-as-much-methane-in-2023-as-officially-reported-exposing-a-significant-gap-in-environmental-accounting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/new-jersey-landfill-emitted-five-times-as-much-methane-in-2023-as-officially-reported-exposing-a-significant-gap-in-environmental-accounting\/35501\/","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey landfill emitted five times as much methane in 2023 as officially reported, exposing a significant gap in environmental accounting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The finding comes from an unusually long monitoring study<\/a>. Researchers found that the biggest releases came in winter and during periods of falling air pressure. In other words, short surveys can miss quite a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methane matters<\/a> because it traps far more heat than carbon dioxide pound for pound. So, measuring a landfill only on a clear summer day can be a little like judging an entire year\u2019s electric bill from one mild afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A tower watched the landfill for years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researchers built their method around two and a half years of nearly continuous methane readings from a roughly 66-foot monitoring tower near East Brunswick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind, temperature, pressure, and background methane levels helped the team estimate how much gas was coming from the landfill month by month. Not just during a few isolated visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team included researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of the Columbia Climate School, while Rutgers University operated the tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also checked their estimates against two aircraft flights and mobile measurements taken around the site. The different methods generally agreed when they covered the same periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter exposed the hidden peak<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s where things get interesting. Methane emissions rose during early winter and fell to their lowest levels in summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why would colder weather mean more methane?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In cold conditions, methane-eating microbes<\/a> in the landfill\u2019s surface soil become less active. Meanwhile, methane-producing microbes can remain busy deeper inside the warm, insulated waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of the soil cover as a living filter. When that filter slows down near freezing, more methane can get through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was some nuance, though. The study found that emissions dropped again during the very coldest temperature range observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Falling pressure opened an escape route<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Air pressure mattered too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High pressure can help hold gas inside a landfill. But when a low-pressure weather system arrives, that atmospheric lid becomes weaker, making it easier for methane to move upward and escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead author Andrew Hallward-Driemeier<\/a> described the process simply. \u201cThen it all escapes as the pressure drops.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there\u2019s a catch. Those cloudy, unsettled days are exactly when aircraft and satellites can struggle to collect useful readings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Illustration
Researchers found that methane emissions from the monitored New Jersey landfill rose during winter and fell in summer, highlighting strong seasonal variability.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reported gap was fivefold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For 2023, the tower-based estimate averaged about 6,000 pounds of methane per hour, with an uncertainty of roughly 660 pounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amount reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> was about 1,180 pounds per hour. That puts the measured estimate at around five times the reported figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not a small difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two summertime aircraft campaigns also produced estimates that were, on average, 37% below the tower\u2019s full-year result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does that mean aircraft measurements are useless? No. But a few good-weather flights can miss the winter surge and leave scientists with only part of the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why quick surveys can fall short<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Satellites can scan huge areas. Very useful. But clouds and water vapor may block or blur methane signals, especially around wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aircraft offer more detail, but they usually provide snapshots. Crews also tend to fly in summer, when conditions are safer and clearer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ground crews have almost the opposite problem. They can find leaks and methane hot spots at close range, but small samples may not represent the entire landfill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a bit like checking one warm vent and assuming you now know how well the whole house is insulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other studies have raised the same warning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first research to suggest that landfill methane emissions<\/a> may be underestimated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2024 airborne survey<\/a> examined 250 large U.S. landfills across 18 states and detected strong methane plumes at 52% of the sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That suggests large releases are not exactly rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, there\u2019s an important limit here. The New Jersey study followed one landfill. Its fivefold difference cannot simply be applied to every landfill in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its bigger lesson is about timing. And patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-round monitoring can reveal swings that occasional measurements simply smooth away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trash keeps feeding the methane cycle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Landfill gas<\/a> forms when organic material breaks down without oxygen. It is roughly half methane and half carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Municipal solid waste landfills accounted for about 14.4% of human-related U.S. methane emissions in 2022, while all landfills together accounted for about 17%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kitchen scraps<\/a> are a surprisingly big part of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal analysis of landfilled food waste<\/a> found that food makes up about 24% of municipal landfill waste but produces an estimated 58% of the methane from those landfills that escapes into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That banana peel or leftover dinner looks harmless in the trash. Underground, though, all that organic waste adds up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better timing could cut emissions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, what can landfill operators actually do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers suggest measuring emissions across multiple seasons, with special attention to falling air pressure and near-freezing weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landfill operators could also increase gas pumping before pressure drops, when methane may be building up underground. More soil cover during high-risk periods could help too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuous monitoring towers may also help officials work out which large landfills have serious methane problems and which do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study\u2019s public data<\/a> could make the method easier to examine and adapt, although suitable sites need enough separation from other methane sources and reliable measurements of upwind air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the finding means for climate action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Methane stays in the atmosphere for far less time than carbon dioxide<\/a>, but over a century it has about 28 times the warming impact pound for pound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That makes landfill methane worth watching closely. Better measurements could help operators capture more gas, reduce emissions, and avoid wasting a potential energy source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s still plenty researchers do not know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f3is\u00edn Commane cautioned that the method should be tested near more landfills before anyone treats the New Jersey result as universal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, the takeaway is pretty simple. When you measure matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weather matters too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full study was published in Environmental Science & Technology<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists found that landfill methane emissions can be up to five times higher than reported, with the biggest releases occurring in winter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":35542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","resize-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35501"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35543,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35501\/revisions\/35543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}