Background
The Earth Engineering Center (EEC) of Columbia University has been conducting research on all forms of waste management since 1995. In 2002, EEC collaborated with Integrated Waste Services Association (IWSA) (presently: Energy Recovery Council (ERC)) in creating the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT) that by now is one of the foremost research groups on the recovery of energy and metals from solid wastes. Also, since 2002, EEC has collaborated with BioCycle journal in carrying out a nation-wide bi-annual survey of the generation and disposition of municipal solid wastes (MSW) in the U.S. that since 2008 has been used by U.S. EPA in computing greenhouse emissions from waste management. The results of the 2006 survey, by-state, are shown in the Columbia MSW Waste Map.
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 be used in the foreseeable future. EEC has also established that the technology used in most of the global landfills is much behind U.S. standards. At the other end of the scale, some of the world’s landfills are set on fire so as to create more space. Studies conducted by EEC and the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) have shown that uncontrolled global landfilling contributes 3-4% of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. The Council for Sustainable Use of Resources (SUR) was founded in 2008 by EEC and Waste Management Inc. with the principal objective of helping to reduce the climate effects of global waste management.