For years Mexico has been struggling with the issue of increasingly overpopulated urban areas in conjunction with waste becoming overwhelmingly concentrated in public areas. In the absence of a comprehensive policy for urban waste management the country is becoming burdened with landfills of insurmountable size that have severe consequences on both human health and the environment.
Landfills are notorious for releasing a cocktail of harmful GHGs, in particular methane which is known to be 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By improving solid waste management practices, this project, based in Monterrey Mexico, aims to reduce the negative effects of noxious fumes emitted by landfills in the region. The project captures gases emitted from the sites and converts them into energy for electricity generation; powering homes and businesses throughout the region.
As Mexico’s economy is predominantly built on the burning of fossil fuels, this project replaces energy originally derived from oil with a cleaner renewable source. Consequently the project both reduces business-as-usual GHGs emitted from the use of fossil fuels and those that would have otherwise been released via the landfill sites. The project produces positive outcomes for local communities surrounding the sites by reducing leakage of toxic chemicals which are known to contaminate water sources and lead to detrimental human health and ecosystem impacts.
