Overview
The project was located at the Huaycoloro landfill in the Huaycoloro Valley in Peru. The Huaycoloro landfill opened in 1994 and is anticipated to remain open until about 2040, with a total capacity of approximately 40 million tons of solid waste.
The project’s purpose was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in particular reduce methane emissions through capture and flaring of Huaycoloro’s landfill gas (LFG). The project helped furnish economic development to the local community by creating jobs – much of the construction and development funding was to be spent locally for drilling, piping, construction and operational personnel.
Benefits
The contributions of the project to sustainable development are:
- Reducing global climate change by destroying the CH4 captured from Huaycoloro’s LFG.
- Bringing the possibility for renewable energy generation capacity, offsetting the use of nonrenewable resources (coal, oil, and gas); thereby displacing emissions of CO2, a basic contributor to global warming.
- Reducing possible health risks by destroying most of the non-CH4 organic compounds, mainly volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”) and hazardous air pollutant (“HAPs”), that are present in Huaycoloro’s LFG.
- Reducing landfill odours by combusting the LFG and improving safety by reducing explosion hazards from LFG accumulation.
- Creating jobs associated with the design, construction, and operation of the LFG capture – much of the construction and development funding is to be spent locally for drilling, piping, construction, and operational personnel.
- Bringing economic development near the landfill, by making the area around the project site a better and safer place to live and do business.
In addition to the positive effects on the climate and development, the Huaycoloro project reduced possible health risks by destroying most of the non-CH4 organic compounds, mainly volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutant (HAPs), that are present in Huaycoloro’s LFG before it is flared. The Huaycoloro project made its surroundings a better and safer place to live and do business.