Waste Management, the nation’s largest waste hauler, has a big idea: Invest heavily in extracting natural gas from landfills. Natural gas has a lower “carbon footprint” than other fossil fuels, and Waste Management (WM) has a lot of landfills.
Landfills emit methane, a greenhouse gas. But it can be captured and used or sold as RNG or “renewable natural gas.” It is renewable because it comes from a landfill or other sources such as animal farms and wastewater treatment plants. On the other hand, it is just like natural gas and many environmentalists are trying to get rid of natural gas because it’s a fossil fuel.
Jacob Wallace writes in Waste Dive:
“The waste major’s planned renewable natural gas facility buildout could net it $600 million in adjusted operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2026, WM revealed during its annual Sustainability Investor Day presentation Wednesday [April 5]. The investments are expected to generate $450 million in free cash flow in 2026, when the expansion is scheduled to be complete, and stabilize at or above $400 million in the following years.”
Government tax cuts could boost profits even more.
“The Inflation Reduction Act may also offer upside for WM. The landmark climate package’s Investment Tax Credit program, which offers a discount of up to 30% on taxes for renewable energy projects like the ones WM and other waste companies pursue, could provide WM an additional $250 to $350 million in cumulative benefits.
Many environmentalists don’t like this idea. To begin with, most dislike landfills. Furthermore, writes Annika Hellweg of the New England-based Conservation Law Foundation:
“’Renewable natural gas’ is not renewable or natural. It’s largely manufactured, and an extremely limited resource that will do little or nothing at all to cut climate-damaging emissions. Both of these products also cost consumers more than actual renewable energy, with none of the environmental benefits.
“’Renewable natural gas” is not a large-scale climate solution. And neither is power-to-gas. Instead, they are both shameless attempts by the fossil fuel industry to convince New Englanders to pay for more polluting pipelines.”
The image above shows the Army Corps of Engineers taking debris from flooded homes to a landfill in Minot, North Dakota.