Waste Sector Methane Regulations Published by Canada’s ECCC

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has published proposed Regulations Respecting the Reduction in the Release of Methane (Waste Sector), which would apply to privately and municipally owned municipal solid waste landfills with the goal of reducing landfill methane emissions. According to the government’s Impact Analysis Statement, the regulations support the goals in Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan and 2022 Methane Strategy. 

The ECCC engagement and consultation on the proposed regulations has been ongoing for the past few years and has included a discussion paper, technical working group, and proposed regulatory frameworks, with the proposed regulations being the most recent action. SWANA submitted comments on the proposed regulatory framework in 2023.  

The regulations will apply to landfills that accept over 10,000 tonnes of waste annually and have more than 100,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste-in-place, and to landfills that have accepted any quantity of municipal solid waste for disposal after January 1, 2010, and have more than 450,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste-in-place.  

Landfills with landfill gas recovery systems in place before January 1, 2017, will be required to comply with performance standards and monitoring requirements beginning in 2027, while landfills that install new methane control systems will need to comply with other requirements starting in 2029 or 2033 (depending on the annual methane generation assessment). Requirements will include the calculation of an annual methane generation assessment using the Department’s Landfill Methane Generation Model and a report of the results.  

Additional information is available on the ECCC website. 

ECCC is accepting comments until August 28, 2024. Please contact Kristyn Oldendorf, Director of Public Policy, at koldendorf@swana.org to participate in comment development for SWANA and to advise if your organization plans to submit comments. 

The proposed Regulations are accompanied by updated Technical Guidance Document on Estimating, Measuring and Monitoring Landfill Methane and a Landfill Methane Modelling Tool, providing additional information on the methods that will support implementation of the new regulations. These resources are available upon request via email using the following link: Technical Guidance Document - Document d’orientation Technical Guidance Document - Document d’orientation technique.

For additional information on these documents, contact ECCC at ges-dechets-ghg-waste@ec.gc.ca.