A STRATEGY FOR EMISSIONS BASED REGULATION OF LANDFILL GAS

SUMMARY: The Environment Agency (the Agency) is responsible for the regulation of landfill sites in England and Wales. Since its formation, the Agency’s regulatory strategy for landfill gas has been to require operators to demonstrate best practice. However, this approach does not allow environmental outcomes from site-specific landfill gas management to be easily illustrated or quantified. Greater clarity is now given to these environmental outcomes by augmenting best practice regulation of landfill gas with emissions-based regulation. This will require a “step change ” in the management of landfill gas. However, it will enable the operator and regulator alike to respond to public concerns regarding landfill gas, including increasingly complicated health-related issues. 1