Decarbonization of the Waste Industry in the U.S.A. and the European Union

Evan K. Paleologos (), Abdel-Mohsen O. Mohamed, Dina Mohamed, Moza T. Al Nahyan, Sherine Farouk and Devendra N. Singh
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Evan K. Paleologos: College of Engineering, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 59911, United Arab Emirates
Abdel-Mohsen O. Mohamed: Uberbinder Limited, Oxford OX4 4GP, UK
Dina Mohamed: Educational Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
Moza T. Al Nahyan: College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 59911, United Arab Emirates
Sherine Farouk: College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 59911, United Arab Emirates
Devendra N. Singh: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Methane (CH 4 ) emissions from the waste industry in the U.S.A. and the European Union (EU) have decreased by over 38% from 1990 to 2021. The success in CH 4 emission reduction in the U.S.A. is attributable to two main reasons. Firstly, the increase in the recycling and composting share to 32% of managed waste, thus removing decomposable material from landfills, and secondly, the implementation of methane capture and utilization programs, which have reduced the CH 4 released into the atmosphere from 1990 to 2022 by over 60%. By 2022, the EU had reduced landfilling to 23% of the total waste, with waste-to-energy and composting more than double that of their U.S. counterparts, and recycling alone attaining a share of 30%. The EU’s success has been the result of aggressive European legislation requiring biodegradable MSW going to landfills to be reduced by 2035 to 10% of that in 1995, and 65% of packaging waste to be retrieved and recycled by 2025. In terms of N 2 O emissions, in the EU there was a decrease from wastewater processes from 1990 to 2021, but an overall increase due to waste-to-energy operations, whereas in the U.S.A., both wastewater treatment and solid waste incineration appear to contribute to N 2 O emissions.

Keywords: decarbonization of the waste industry; landfill methane emissions; landfill gas capture and utilization; wastewater nitrous oxide emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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