How could composting a material require more energy than landfilling the same material?
Based on the available data, EPA has found that the energy used during the composting process may exceed the energy needed to landfill the same materials. This is based on a comparison of the data in WARM that represents energy requirements for transportation and equipment operations in landfills and centralized composting facilities. All of the emission factors in WARM include a transportation component. The “transportation” value for any given disposal/material pair (e.g., composting yard trimmings) reflects the energy needed to transport the material to the landfill or centralized composting facility as well as the equipment used to operate the landfill or composting facility. Energy requirements are defined as the amount of diesel fuel required to operate the machinery associated with each process which is then converted into energy units per ton of material (BTU/ton). The transportation/equipment operation values vary by waste management type, but not by material type. The energy
