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Why does nobody talk about how much methane comes from landfills
I was reading through some EPA data last night and found out that landfills are the third biggest source of methane emissions in the US. That surprised me because I always hear about cows and oil wells but never about trash. Anyone else think this should get more attention than it does?
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avery_flores10d ago
Out of sight really does mean out of mind" hits the nail on the head for me too. I used to think my biggest contribution to global warming was just my own, uh, personal methane emissions after a bean burrito lmao. But nah, it's way worse that I'm just tossing my trash into a giant pile that's basically a slow-motion fart bomb for decades. I saw a doc where they showed a landfill that's so old the pipes are rusted through and nobody even knows where most of the gas is venting. Made me feel real smart for all those years I patted myself on the back for recycling a soda can while ignoring the mountain of garbage I was paying to sit there and rot.
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young.thomas11d ago
Yeah I used to be one of those people who only blamed cows for methane. Never really thought about trash at all. Then I saw a video of a landfill gas collection system and how much gas they actually capture, or try to capture. It blew my mind that a lot of older landfills don't even have those systems, so the methane just leaks out for decades. Makes you wonder how many other big sources of pollution we just ignore because they're out of sight. What changed your mind about it?
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taylor_patel11d ago
I drove past a landfill in Ohio last year and saw these random pipes sticking out of the ground with flames on top. That's when it clicked for me too, @young.thomas. They told me some of those flares have been burning for decades nonstop because there's so much gas trapped underneath. It honestly made me feel sick thinking about all that invisible pollution just floating around. You're totally right that out of sight really does mean out of mind for most people, including me before that trip.
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