The Earth Engineering Center, one of the founders of SUR, is already engaged in the BioCycle/Columbia bi-annual survey of waste generation and disposition in the U.S. (State of Garbage in America). The SUR Center will compile and analyze data, obtained through its own research, available in the global literature, or provided by the waste management industry, and develop a reliable waste management database that will be made available through this web page. SUR will also develop credible information as to how landfilled biogenic and fossil-based carbon affect greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change.

Expanded Hierarchy of Waste Management

SUR is examining the expansion of the existing hierarchy of waste management that groups all forms of landfilling into one, as adopted currently by USEPA and EU, to various forms of landfilling, ranging from the most beneficial that recover methane and use it to generate energy, to the traditional dumps that regrettably are the norm throughout most of the world.

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of composting various organic wastes

The California Waste Management Board (CIWMB) and other local and state regulatory bodies are currently addressing organic waste management practices, including food, yard, paper, and lumber that are currently being disposed in landfills. There is mounting pressure to divert these materials to "higher and better use", using Climate Change and decreased greenhouse gas emissions benefits as one major reason for diversion. It is very important to have the best possible and objective information available to decision-makers, in order to compare the Climate Change benefits of alternative practices for managing organic wastes. For example, CIWMB sponsored a study of the "Lifecycle Assessment of Organics Diversion Alternatives and Economic Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Options". SUR plans to conduct research as necessary to establish appropriate disposal and waste management options for organic wastes, including the use of source-separated green wastes for landfill maintenance as Alternative Daily Cover (ADC), using the LCA methodology that has been used at Columbia University in prior studies of alternative processes and products. SUR will also provide critical review and comment on studies that are part of  the CIWMB process.

Quantification of the benefits of recycling

The potential for greenhouse gas reduction credits within the waste management field is most often associated with increased recycling.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed the WARM model to estimate the general benefit of recycling as compared to other waste management practices.  However, the U.S. EPA has stated that this model should not be used to calculate "credits".  The question remains as to how credits will be determined for the diversion of recyclable commodities.  SUR proposes to develop methods by which such credits may be calculated and accounted for by regulatory schemes.  As part of this research, SUR will evaluate how distance to markets be factored in and who, if anybody, should get recycling credits including an evaluation of the credits title going to cities, service providers, manufacturers or a combination of the potential credit holders.

Energy recovery from post-recycling wastes

SUR Center is particularly well established to research waste-to-energy, including controlled combustion or gasification of solid wastes (WTE) and capture and conversion of landfill gas to energy (LFGTE).  Specifically, SUR will research and provide answers regarding how energy derived from waste can be used to offset fossil fuel energy sources and compare the Climate Change benefits of a new source of low-carbon renewable energy as compared to other sources.  SUR will consider what new credits may be available for the production of energy from waste.  The analysis will include comparison of criteria pollutant emissions associated with WTE and LFGTE, with the production of increased biomass energy and other offsetting considerations.  SUR will investigate how various technologies and methods may be best utilized in a cost-effective manner to reduce criteria pollutants and meet proposed state and federal standards.

Training of future leaders for industry and government

An important role of the academic partners of SUR is to train future leaders of the U.S. waste management industry. Also, SUR recognizes that the problems of waste management are most acute in the developing nations where rapid economic development and inadequate infrastructure have led to massive generation of wastes that pollute and disfigure land and water resources, in addition to adding considerably to the greenhouse effect. SUR has already recruited several graduate students whose thesis work will be based on problems and issues identified by this Center and by its sponsors.

Landfill gas generation, collection, and utilization

On a global scale, most landfills are not equipped to capture the biogas generated. Only 20% of the methane generated in landfills is captured. Most of it at U.S. landfills. The SUR Center will review all available data to determine landfill gas collection efficiencies, at different stages of operation of a landfill cell for U.S. landfills practicing best attainable landfill engineering and promoting such practice elsewhere in the U.S. and globally.

Carbon Sequestration in from the Landfill Disposal of Municipal Solid Waste

Recent estimates indicate that more than 20% (125.7 Tg of the 555.3 Tg as CO₂ equivalent) of methane emissions in the US can attributed to landfills (US EPA, 2008). While recycling and composting will serve to divert some waste from landfills, landfills will remain a repository for waste for the foreseeable future. When waste is buried in a landfill some fraction of the biogenic carbon is biologically converted to carbon dioxide and methane and therefore represents a source of energy. Materials that do not degrade will be stored or sequestered in landfills. The sequestration of biogenic carbon is an important part of the landfill carbon balance. In ongoing work, SUR researchers are working to quantify the fraction of municipal solid waste that is geologically sequestered after landfill disposal.