Colorado approves updated rules to reduce landfill methane emissions

The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) has voted 6-0 to adopt updated rules to reduce methane emissions from Colorado’s landfills.

The landfill methane rule includes updates which would require landfill operators to improve how they monitor for methane leaks; strengthen requirements for how methane gas is captured and destroyed; require landfill operators to use landfill cover practices to control emissions; and phase out open flares. 

“Colorado has taken a major step in reducing waste-related emissions by adopting updated landfill methane regulations,” Boulder, Colorado-based Eco-Cycle Executive Director Suzanne Jones says. “We applaud the hundreds of Coloradans who provided feedback on this effort and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division team for their collaborative and creative approach to navigating this complex topic. Eco-Cycle and our partners will continue our work to advance organic waste diversion systems across Colorado, keeping methane-generating materials out of landfills in the first place.”

In 2020, Colorado landfills emitted 4.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e), AQCC says and expects these rules to reduce emissions once fully implemented.

“Today’s vote puts Colorado on a stronger path to rein in one of the most harmful sources of methane pollution that threatens human health,” says Edwin Lamair, senior attorney at Environmental Defense Fund. “By requiring better monitoring, stronger controls, and the use of advanced technologies to reduce methane leaks, the Commission delivered commonsense protections that will cut pollution faster and improve air quality for communities living near landfills.”

As previously reported by Waste Today, Colorado identified reducing methane pollution from landfills as a near-term action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap 2.0.

In October 2024, AQCC adopted changes to the state’s greenhouse gas reporting requirements that apply to municipal solid waste landfills, which support the new landfill methane reduction requirements.