Matuail landfill’s per hour methane emission equivalent of running nearly 2 lakh cars, says study

According to emissions-tracking company GHGSat Inc, Matuail Sanitary Landfill situated in Dhaka, emits around 4000 kilograms potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere per hour - equivalent of running 1,90,000 traditional cars. 

The discovery was made by the company's Hugo satellite on 17 April, said GHGSat's President Stephane Germain, reports Bloomberg. 

"We have for the first time been able to attribute emissions in Bangladesh to a specific source. This is a large source but is still not sufficient to explain the large, sustained and diffuse emissions detected over the city. The situation remains a mystery and we will continue to monitor the area," Germain said.

Bangladesh has been a hotspot this year for emissions of methane, a colorless, odorless gas that's about 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first two decades in the atmosphere.

According to analytics company Kayrros SAS, the 12 highest methane-emission rates detected this year in satellite data occurred over Bangladesh

The Matuail waste site is one of several sources that are probably producing methane plumes over Bangladesh this year, according to Montreal-based GHGSat.

When asked about the high emission rates, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change stated that they are aware of the situation and a technical committee has been formed to assess the extent of the problem. 

The ministry said that the committee has been assigned to assess methane emission from the Matuail sanitary landfill site and provide mitigation measures to the problem. 

The ministry added that the committee's report is due in a month.

Executive Engineer of the Waste Management Department of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Sufiullah Saddik Bhuiyan said the Matuail landfill spreads over 181 acres and accepts about 2,500 tons of waste per day.

While the site has received funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency to help manage liquid waste and greenhouse gases, the landfill doesn't have data on how much methane gas it generates, Bhuiyan said.

Scientists are just beginning to pinpoint the biggest sources of methane globally. Domesticated livestock, rice cultivation, leaks from the oil and gas industry and landfills are just some of the sources of the emissions.

According to a statement from the environment ministry, measures included in a 2018 short-lived climate pollutants-reduction plan would cut Bangladesh's methane emissions up to 17-24% by 2030 and up to 25-36% by 2040. 

Bangladesh has also worked with Danish assistance to reduce leaks from gas-pipeline distribution networks, it said.

Observations of methane from space can be seasonal due to cloud cover, precipitation and varying light intensity, according to Kayrros, which analyses data from European Space Agency satellites. Offshore emissions and releases in higher latitudes such as the Arctic, where Russia has extensive oil and gas operations, can also be hard to track from space, reports Bloomberg.

Bangladesh, which chairs the Climate Vulnerable Forum, whose 48 members represent 1.2 billion people most threatened by climate change, is vulnerable to extreme weather events and rising oceans due to its low elevation and high population density.