Carbon Offsets from Organic Waste Conversion Projects

8/3/2019 Carbon Offsets from Organic Waste Conversion Projects

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/carbon-offsets-from-organic-waste-conversion-projects 1/3

Protocols

Carbon Offsets from OrganicWaste Conversion Projects| Max DuBuisson and Syd Partridge |

The ClimaTe aCTion ReseRve (The ReseRve) has

long had a protocol to give credit or the capture and

destruction o methane emissions rom organic waste in

landlls, but they have now opened up the possibility

o credits or projects that prevent that waste rom

entering landlls in the rst place. In October 2009,

the Reserve adopted the Organic Waste Digestion

Project Protocol, covering both municipal ood waste

and agro-industrial wastewater. In December, they

kicked o development o the Composting Project

Protocol, due to be completed and adopted in June

o 2010. Many municipalities have become interested

in diverting organic waste rom landlls to other

technologies or waste conversion, but these can be

expensive enterprises. Carbon osets can provide

an important revenue stream to help nance these

projects.

Organic Waste Digestion (OWD)Anaerobic digestion is not a new technology, but

it has been enjoying a renaissance as more people

are realizing the benets, and advances have been

made in digester design and operation. The OWD

protocol outlines eligible waste streams, including

MSW (municipal solid waste) ood waste and agro-

industrial wastewater, and also provides requirements

or monitoring, metering and verication.

Post-consumer ood waste makes up about 12.5

percent o all MSW nationwide, and only about 2.6

percent o this is currently diverted rom landll.

In the landll, organic waste decays over time and

releases methane as landll gas (LFG). Methane is a

potent greenhouse gas—21 times more potent than

carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. It can also pose a

threat to local groundwater by migrating out o the

landll. When MSW ood waste is diverted to ananaerobic digester, the project generates credits based

on the avoided emissions rom landlls.

The OWD protocol takes a standardized approach,

assuming that the ood waste would have been sent

to a landll, and that all landlls have gas collection

systems that reach the waste ater it has been in the

landll or three years. A rst order decay (FOD)

model is used to calculate how much methane would

have been generated by the specic amount o ood

waste over time. Since the crediting period or landll

projects is 10 years, each calculation is or 10 years’

worth o decay in the landll, minus what would

have been destroyed in the LFG collection system.

The protocol credits digestion o non-industrial ood

waste such as uneaten ood, ood scraps, spoiled ood

and ood preparation wastes rom homes, restaurants,

kitchens, grocery stores, campuses, caeterias and

similar institutions. Industrial ood waste such as

solids rom ood processing acilities generally stillhas a use value and is not typically disposed o in a

MSW system.

Agro-industrial wastewater streams are generally

eligible i they originate rom a privately-owned

treatment acility, and have a baseline management

system that uses uncontrolled anaerobic treatment

(usually a lagoon or open tank at least one meter

in depth). The waste streams are then diverted to a

closed, anaerobic digester to allow or collection and

destruction o the methane gas. Credits are based on

the characteristics o the particular waste stream, using

periodic sampling o chemical oxygen demand (COD)

to model the avoided baseline emissions. Excluded

sources include municipal wastewater, pulp and paper

mills, breweries, ethanol plants and pharmaceutical

production acilities.

The OWD protocol also allows or co-digestion

projects, which can include any combination o

eligible and ineligible waste streams, as well aslivestock manure. Credit is only given or eligible

waste streams. I livestock manure is being digested,

New protocols

from the

climate actioN

reserve provide

iNceNtives to

divert food

wastes from

laNdfills. Theseinclude an existingdigestion protocoland a forthcomingcomposting protocol.

38 WasteAdvantage Magazine March 2010

As Seen In



Crb offt fr orgc Wt Cr Prjct

40 WasteAdvantage Magazine March 2010

project developers will reer to the Livestock Project Protocol or guidance on

quantication o that waste stream.

Destruction o the gas may occur onsite (fare, engine, uel cell, turbine) or

osite (pipeline, vehicle uel). Credits are not given or avoided emissions due

to the generation o renewable electricity, but renewable energy credits may be

sought rom another program, since these represent a dierent set o emissionsbeing avoided.

The crediting period or OWD projects is 10 years rom the project’s start

date, and is renewable one time i the project meets the eligibility requirements

o the version o the protocol that is current at that time. A project’s start date is

dened by the day that the project begins generating and destroying methane

produced rom the digestion o eligible waste. Project developers have a six-

month window rom that day to optimize their system beore they must declare

a start date. Projects must be submitted to the Reserve or Listing within six

months o the declared start date. There is a grace period, however, wherebyprojects with start dates as early as October 7, 2007 may still be submitted to

the Reserve until October 7, 2010.

CompostingThe kick-o meeting or the Composting Project Protocol was held in

Portland, OR in December 2009. This protocol has the same goal as that o

the OWD protocol: to divert MSW ood waste rom landlls, thereby avoiding

methane emissions in landll gas. The credit quantication will be very similar

to the MSW ood waste calculations in the OWD protocol.

At the moment, the Reserve has ormed the stakeholder workgroup based

on applications that were submitted ater the kick-o meeting. The Policy

team will now work with this group to develop a drat o the protocol. Ater

the workgroup has reviewed and commented on the rst drat, the Reserve will

develop a revised drat that will then be made available or public comment

rom the Reserve Web site (www.climateactionreserve.org)—this will occur

between mid-April and mid-May. All interested stakeholders are invited to

submit any useul comments that you may have regarding this drat. During

the public review process, the Reserve will host a workshop to encourage urtherpublic eedback. Once the public comment period has closed, the Reserve will

review, respond and incorporate the public’s eedback. A nal drat will then

This map shows projects that are either listed or registered in the Climate Action Reserve. Listed projects have been accepted, but not yet verifed. Registered projects have successully completed atleast one verifcation. The Reserve also accepts Landfll and Livestock Projects in Mexico, and will be expanding other project protocols to both Mexico and Canada.Image courtesy o Climate Action Reserve.

As Seen In



WasteAdvantage Magazine March 2010 41

be presented to the Reserve Board o Directors or adoption at their meeting

in June.

Both o these protocols oer a new source o revenues to help nance waste

conversion projects. The U.S. carbon market is growing quickly. There is

demand not only or the carbon credits rom digestion and composting projects,

but also or the renewable energy that they may be able to generate. | WA Max DuBuisson is the Business Development Manager or the Climate Action

Reserve (Los Angeles, CA). Max works on the growth and development o the Reserve

through public outreach. He serves as a source or inquiries and inormation or interested

stakeholders, especially concerning methane destruction projects. Max has been with the

Reserve since 2008. He can be reached at (213) 785-1233 or via e-mail at max@

climateactionreserve.org.

Syd Partridge is a Policy Manager at the Climate Action Reserve. He works on

the development o oset project protocols, including the OWD, Composting and Livestock

protocols, leading them through all steps o the protocol development process. He also

developed the Livestock Beta Calculation Tool. Syd has been with the Reserve since 2007,

and can be reached at (213) 542-0294 or via e-mail at [email protected].

The Climate Action Reserve is a national osets program working to ensure integrity,

transparency and fnancial value in the U.S. carbon market. It does this by establishing

regulatory-quality standards or the development, quantifcation and verifcation o

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction projects in North America; issuing carbonoset credits known as Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRT) generated rom such projects;

and tracking the transaction o credits over time in a transparent, publicly-accessible

system. Adherence to the Reserve’s high standards ensures that emissions reductions

associated with projects are real, permanent and additional, thereby instilling confdence

in the environmental beneft, credibility and efciency o the U.S. carbon market.

For more inormation on the Organic Waste Digestion Project Protocol, visit www.

climateactionreserve.org/how/protocols/adopted/organic-waste-digestion/current. For

more inormation on the Composting Project Protocol, visit www.climateactionreserve.

org/how/protocols/in-progress/composting.

The U.S. carbon markeT iS growing qUickly.T s dd t f t dts f dst d pst pjts,

ut s f t tt t t t.

{ }

©2010 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved.Reprinted rom Waste Advantage Magazine.Contents cannot be reprinted without permission rom the publisher.

As Seen In

Documents

Carbon Offsets from Organic Waste Conversion Projects