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December 21, 2009 Section 5: Waste Reduction and Recycling 5. Waste Reduction and Recycling While it may not be immediately obvious, reducing the amount of waste deposited into the landfill through material reuse, reduction, and recycling is one of the most important strategies San Leandro residents can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is because the products we use travel along a supply chain - from raw materials extraction, through manufacturing, transportation, and ultimately deposition in a landfill - with each of these stages powered by fossil energy resulting in greenhouse gas emissions. Upstream from the consumer, fossil fuel energy is used to extract the raw materials such as wood, metals, etc. from which products are made. Additional energy, primarily coal-based electricity and natural gas, is needed to manufacture consumer goods in factories. Petroleum is used for the transportation of raw materials to the factory, moving manufactured goods to market, and moving waste from the consumer’s curbside to landfills. Emissions occur downstream from the consumer as well. When organic material such as food, wood, paper, or other biologically derived material is deposited in landfills, it decays in an oxygen-free environment that produces methane (CH). Methane is an extremely potent 4 greenhouse gas, such that 1 pound of methane is considered to be as powerful as 21 pounds of carbon dioxide. Often, some of this methane is captured and combusted at the landfill for the generation of electricity. However, much of the methane leaks to the atmosphere. This methane leakage is the primary source of the City of San Leandro’s greenhouse gas emissions from the waste category. Waste reduction and recycling is a powerful tool for reducing emissions all along the consumer materials lifecycle. Reducing the amount of materials required through re-use, for example using canvas bags instead of plastic and paper bags from the grocery store, represents the best opportunity to reduce GHG emissions in a significant way. The reduction in energy-related CO emissions from the raw material acquisition and 2 manufacturing process, and the absence of emissions from waste management, combine to reduce GHG emissions more than any other option. Recycling represents the second best opportunity to reduce GHG emissions. For these materials, recycling reduces energy-related CO emissions in the manufacturing process and 2 avoids emissions from waste management. The U.S. EPA estimates that if a city of 100,000 Page 39