WMI, Veolia Evaluate Landfill Emissions
Veolia Environmental Services North America and Waste Management Inc. have joined together to conduct field evaluations of innovative approaches to determine fugitive air emissions from landfills, according to an Oct. 3 press release.
For two weeks, the companies will test methane emissions from the WM-owned Metro Recycling and Disposal Facility and from the Veolia-owned Emerald Park Landfill, both in Franklin, Wis.
The project is supported by the Environmental Research and Education Foundation. The companies are collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Risk Management Research Laboratory in the Office of Research and Development.
While this field effort is designed to develop better methods to assess greenhouse gas emissions, it will serve to improve the capture of gas generated from landfills and ultimately improve the amount of recoverable energy from waste materials in a landfill. It is an important endeavor in reducing greenhouse gas while providing a renewable fuel.
"This is the biggest air study on landfills ever completed," said Antoine Babilotte, project engineer in the landfill team for Veolia Environment Research and Development. "The resulting information will also give us solid data and documentation about our environmental and sustainability programs" using all the key commercial and research-based air testing techniques worldwide.
Air emissions will be measured at landfills using six different measurement techniques from Sept. 29 to Oct. 10. The multiple measuring devices will help to identify the best existing methodologies to assess methane emissions. Results are expected to be announced during the first quarter of 2009.
Based in Houston, Texas, Waste Management is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Veolia Environmental Services North America Corp., headquartered in Chicago, Ill, offers fully integrated environmental solutions to virtually all industrial, commercial, municipal and residential sectors.