Kamal Ghorui
India’s two big landfills — Jawahar Nagar landfill in Hyderabad and Kanjurmarg landfill in Mumbai — figure in world’s top 25 super-polluting methane emission waste disposal sites, shows a new study by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).The study ranks 25 waste facilities in 18 countries responsible for the highest methane emission rates, ranging from 3.6 to 7.6 tonnes of methane per hour, detected from space by key satellites in 2025.To put it in perspective, the report by UCLA’s STOP Methane Project says that a source emitting 5 tonnes of methane per hour (5,000 kg) would contribute about as much to global warming as one million SUVs.Methane is a potent heat-trapping gas, which is 86 times more deadly than CO2 and responsible for more than 45% of recent global warming.The study places Hyderabad’s Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management Project at Jawahar Nagar landfill, emitting 5.9 tonnes/hour, at the fourth position and the Mumbai one, emitting 4.9 tonnes/hour, at 12th position in the dubious list of 25 which has the landfill at Campo de Mayo, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, with emission figure of 7.6 tonnes per hour, at the top.These landfills are found in developed and developing countries of all income levels and in all regions of world, including three sites each in Brazil and Chile; two each in India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey; and one each in Algeria, Argentina, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand and the USA.“We have already seen how making reliable data available to larger audiences and increasing visibility can be an effective way of prompting action,” said Juan Pablo Escudero, a project partner with UCLA’s STOP Methane and a professor at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez School of Law in Santiago, Chile.“This data provides great opportunities for responsible operators and national govts to lead the way on cleaning up their waste sectors,” he said.“Researchers from UCLA’s STOP Methane Project analysed data showing nearly 3,000 plumes from more than 700 waste sites worldwide to identify the top 25 sites globally,” said the report.
