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November 9, 2009 Section 2: Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Forecast <br />Table 2. San Leandro Waste Composition <br />Waste Type ~1laste Share <br />Paper Products 20.6 <br />Food Waste 11.3 <br />Plant Debris 5.5 <br />Wood/Textiles 18.4 <br />All Other Waste 44.3 <br />Total 100 <br />Source: StopWaste.Org <br />Some landfills recover this methane either for energy generation or flaring, converting it back <br />into carbon dioxide. The EPA estimates that 60 to 80 percent of methane is recovered at the <br />landfills to which San Leandro sends its waste. According to ICLEI, "recent studies have begun <br />to question the U.S. EPA's estimates for the amount of methane that is actually captured by <br />methane recovery systems at landfills. Many hypothesize that the efficiency with which methane <br />recovery systems capture methane is currently overestimated, and that much more of the potent <br />greenhouse gas is actually escaping from landfills into the atmosphere. In the absence of exact <br />data, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change recommends using the conservative end <br />of that range to estimate the percentage of methane recovery at landfills."' ICLEI chose to follow <br />the recommendation and used a 60 percent methane recovery factor for San Leandro's <br />inventory. <br />Recycling and composting programs were taken into account as reduced total tonnage of waste <br />going to the landfills. The ICLEI methodology does not accurately capture the associated <br />emissions reductions in "upstream" energy use from recycling. Despite this limitation, recycling <br />and composting programs can have a significant impact on GHG emissions. Manufacturing <br />products with recycled materials avoids emissions from the energy that would have been used <br />during extraction, transporting and processing of virgin raw materials. Recycling paper also <br />conserves forests, which contribute to carbon sequestration - a process that removes carbon <br />from the atmosphere and stores it for long periods of time. <br />~ City of San Leandro. Baseline Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report. June 2008. Prepared by ICLEI. <br />~~Q,~~ax~~ Page 11 <br />~ m <br />~~ ~~ <br />n <br />