With initial help from the School of Engineering and the Earth Institute of Columbia University, the Earth Engineering Center (EEC) of Columbia University (www.columbia.edu/cu/earth) has developed a world-renowned research organization, the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT, www.wtert.org) that concentrates on thermal treatment technologies and the recovery of energy and metals from solid wastes. Also, since 2002, EEC in collaboration with BioCycle journal, has conducted a nation-wide bi-annual survey of the generation and disposition of MSW that by now is recognized as the prime source of information on this subject. Furthermore, EEC has started to develop a national MSW database (www.wastemap.us) starting with waste management data obtained in the course of a study by EEC of waste management data from three states of EPA Region 9 (CA, HI, NV).

In the course of its past studies, EEC has determined that nearly 80% of the global post-recycling MSW is being landfilled and that this method of disposal will continue to dominate in the foreseeable future. EEC has also established that the technology used in most of the global landfills is much behind U.S. standards; for example, the U.S. captures and utilizes a large part of the methane generated in regulation landfills. At the other end of the scale, some of the world’s landfills are set on fire in order to create more space.  Studies conducted by EEC and the Goddard Institute of Space Studies, another unit of the Earth Institute have shown that uncontrolled global landfilling contributes about 4% of the carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.