Seasonal methane emission from municipal solid waste disposal sites in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

The Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Sector is a major source of Methane (CH4) emission, a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) that contributes to Climate Change. However, governments of developing countries have not been able to address the challenges posed by this sector due to inadequate funding and technical requirement. The objective of this study was to determine how seasonal variation influences the CH4 gas emission. The First Order Decay (FOD) Tier 1 Model was used to estimate CH4 emission from four Solid Waste Disposal Sites (SWDS) in Lagos namely: Ewu-Elepe (Ewu), Abule-Egba (A/E), Soluos (Sol), and Olushosun (Olu) covering the dry and wet seasons, respectively for the inventory year 2020. A known weight of the wet waste deposited was characterized. The study revealed that the Degradable Organic Carbon (DOC) for the dry season was 12.897 GgC/kgWaste while that of the wet season was 12.547 GgC/kgWaste. But, the methane gas generated during the wet season was 0.331 Gg higher than that of the dry season which was 0.134 Gg for the study period. This is an appreciable quantity of methane that can contribute to the global Climate Change impact if not addressed. Therefore, these waste types should be segregated from other recyclables and processed into compost or energy resource.