Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases 2001

Materials Management Projects

“Materials management” is a crosscutting category that can encompass a variety of greenhouse gas and emission sources, and may include any of the following activities:

• Use of biomass fuels, such as wood waste, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by displacing fossil fuels
• Avoidance of methane emissions from the decay of waste materials in landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and other waste management systems through activities such as recovery of methane from landfills or from anaerobic digesters treating municipal sewage, agricultural wastes, or animal manure, and diversion of municipal solid waste from landfills to waste-to-energy systems
• Recycling of halogenated substances, such as sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons, and hydrochlorofluorocarbons
• Recycling and source reduction of solid waste, which reduce methane emissions from municipal landfills and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases associated with the production of virgin materials displaced by the materials recycled
• Reuse of coal ash as a substitute for Portland cement in concrete, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions from the manufacture of the cement.

Reporting of materials management activities on Form EIA-1605 increased sevenfold from 1994 to 2000. Only 305 projects were reported for 2001, 33 percent fewer than were reported for 2000 (see figure); however, Waste Management, Inc., submitted a late report for 2000 that added a large number of projects, and late reports will  raise the project total for 2001.

Landfill gas recovery accounted for most (65 percent) of the 305 materials management projects reported for 2001. In addition to 12 other methane emission avoidance projects reported, other materials management projects included coal ash reuse (37), recycling and source reduction of solid waste (31), recycling of halogenated substances (16), and biomass burning (11).

The emission reductions reported for materials management projects are shown in the table below. For 2001, reported net reductions in direct emissions were 15.4 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent, representing 7 percent of the total direct reductions reported. Reported indirect reductions were 47.2 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent, representing 66 percent of the total indirect reductions reported.

Reported Emission Reductions from Materials Management Projects by Project Type and Type of
Reduction, Data Year 2001
(Metric Tons Carbon Dioxide Equivalent)