Alarming increase in Borders greenhouse gas emissions

A DISTURBING INVESTIGATION by DOUG COLLIE

The volume of methane and other harmful gases produced at Scottish Borders Council's landfill site on the outskirts of Galashiels increased by more than 25 per cent in 2017 at a time when Scotland-wide emissions continues to fall.

Environmental data released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) at the weekend revealed 451,000 kilos of methane were sent into the atmosphere from the rotting garbage at Easter Langlee, 27% more than in 2016 and more than twice the level of 2011 when the figure was 197,000 kilos. The reporting threshold for methane is 10,000 kilos per annum.

Meanwhile the statistics for CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) and HCFCs (Hydrochlorofluorocarbons) are equally alarming with increases at Langlee of 39.7% and 25% respectively.

In the case of these two polluting substances the reporting threshold is 1 kilo. But the Borders landfill site generated 38.3 kilos of CFCs (27.4 in 2016) and 26.5 kilos of HCFCs compared to 21.4 kilos in 2016. The 2016 figure for methane emissions at the site was 356,000 kilos.

Waste management emissions in Scotland as a whole have been travelling in the opposite direction to those in the Borders. From 2015 to 2016 (the latest data available) emissions decreased by 4.9%.

The Scottish Government claims the decrease is largely due to the progressive introduction of methane capture and oxidisation systems within landfill management. From 1990 to 2016 emissions have dropped by 72.8%.

Our investigation shows that between 2002 and 2017 - figures are not available for 2003 on the SEPA database - Easter Langlee produced 13,867,000 kilos of methane.

Research has apparently established a dairy cow will generate 110.7 kilos of methane in a year while the total for a beef cow is given as 50.5 kilos.

It means the Easter Langlee methane emissions of 451,000 kilos in 2017 were equivalent to the "output" from a herd of 4,074 dairy cows or 8,930 beef cattle. And the mammoth total for 2002-2017 would have required over 125,000 dairy cows or almost 275,000 beef cattle to match it.

So far as CFCs and HCFCs are concerned the Borders landfill total emissions show little sign of abating with CFCs considerably higher than the 2013 level of 27.5 kilos and HCFCs in 2017 identical to those recorded in 2013.

In April 2015 Persimmon Homes had to call a temporary halt to house building at their Melrose Gait site near the landfill at Easter Langlee following the discovery of elevated levels of methane gas and carbon dioxide in the area..

 SEPA's own briefing note on methane tells us one of the main sources of the gas being emitted into the environment is from the natural decomposition of plant and animal matter in airless conditions.  The UK's biggest man-made source of methane is from rotting rubbish in landfills. Methane is also released during the mining and distribution of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas).

According to SEPA: "On a local scale, build-up of methane poses an explosion hazard which can result in evacuation of areas over old landfills or mines.The main impact of methane is on a global scale, as a greenhouse gas. Although levels of methane in the environment are relatively low, its high 'global warming potential' (21 times that of carbon dioxide) ranks it amongst the worst of the greenhouse gases."

So far as CFCs are concerned, SEPA says: "At a global level releases of CFCs have serious environmental consequences. Their long lifetimes in the atmosphere mean that some end up in the higher atmosphere (stratosphere) where they can destroy the ozone layer, thus reducing the protection it offers the earth from the sun's harmful UV rays.

"CFCs also contribute to Global Warming (through 'the Greenhouse Effect'). Although the amounts emitted are relatively small, they have a powerful warming effect (a very high 'Global Warming Potential')".

On HCFCs the environmental watchdog has this to say: "Hydrochlorofluorocarbons are a large group of compounds, whose structure is very close to that of Chlorofluorocarbons  but including one or more hydrogen atoms. 

"In particular, HCFCs are now used as refrigerants (in refrigerators, freezers and air conditioning systems) and also in insulative foams. The use of HCFCs as solvents is now being phased out in developed countries and has been banned in the UK since 2001. 

"Although not as stable and therefore not so persistent in the atmosphere as CFCs, HBFCs or Halons, they can still end up in the higher atmosphere (stratosphere) where they can destroy the ozone layer"