Landfill gas flare launched in Luhansk

An innovative project to capture methane emissions from the municipal landfill has been launched in Luhansk by the local municipality in close collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

"The Lugansk landfill project is a wonderful example of turning waste into energy, of turning a bad situation into a forward looking, low-carbon economic opportunity," said Ricarda Rieger, UNDP Ukraine Country Director.

By capping the landfill on a closed section of the site, installing a system of some 30 wells, and then undertaking active gas extraction by connecting the wells through a system of horizontal and vertical pipes to a flare, the project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 125,000 tonnes of co2e. Installing a cogeneration facility at the project site is currently not envisaged but may be considered at a later date.

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential of 22 times carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere at the landfill site through the decomposition of old municipal waste.

The reduction has local environmental benefits in terms of reduced odour and bad smell at the landfill site and global benefits from the greenhouse gas emission reductions.

This project is one of the very first landfill gas Joint Implementation projects in Ukraine and as such it hoped that the project can help serve as a model for replication throughout Ukraine and the region. This project demonstrates the importance of initiatives being implemented at a regional and sub-regional level in helping to combat climate change.

Partners on this project include the Lugansk Regional State Administration, local project developer "Nadra Luhanshchyny", the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through its MDG Carbon Facility.

"To get a break through to what's a low-carbon sustainable society, we need actions at all levels, at the national level, the sub-national level, and the local level," Ms. Rieger said.

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• Landfill
• gas
• flare
• launched
• in
• Luhansk