The study compares different landfill operating practices and quantifies their environmental impact. Its findings show that currently achievable best practices, including optimized methane capture, efficient cover systems, bioreactor management and high-quality monitoring, can significantly reduce emissions generated by landfill sites. Compared with average operating conditions, the widespread adoption of these practices could reduce total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 50%.

Beyond reducing methane emissions, improved landfill gas capture can increase the recovery and utilization of renewable energy. The study highlights the environmental benefits of biomethane injection and estimates that the generalization of good practices could increase biomethane production potential in France by around 26%, from 2.1 TWh/year to 2.6 TWh/year. At the European scale, landfill biomethane could represent between 15 and 20 TWh, contributing between 5% and 10% of the REPowerEU 2030 biomethane production target. 

According to the study, the transition towards broader implementation of best practices would require an estimated investment of €3-4 per tonne of waste, corresponding to an abatement cost of around €20 per tonne of CO₂ equivalent avoided. Part of these costs could be offset through additional energy recovery, making improved landfill gas management a cost-effective option for reducing emissions while increasing renewable gas production.

Among the different sources of biogas available in Brazil, municipal solid waste landfills represent one of the country’s most immediate opportunities for biomethane production.

Brazil generated 81.6 million tonnes of municipal solid waste in 2024, nearly 60% of which was sent to approximately 3,850 landfill sites, including some of which are equipped with collection systems for biogas generated naturally by the decomposition of organic matter.

As organic waste decomposes, it naturally generates landfill gas. Rather than being released into the atmosphere or destroyed through flaring, this resource can be recovered and upgraded into biomethane, a renewable fuel with characteristics similar to those of natural gas.

Landfills offer several advantages for biomethane projects. They provide a continuous source of biogas, are often located close to energy consumers and already benefit from existing waste management infrastructure. These characteristics make landfill gas an attractive feedstock for large-scale renewable gas production.

In addition, capturing landfill gas delivers a double benefit: reducing greenhouse gas emissions while producing renewable energy.

By transforming an existing waste stream into a valuable local resource, landfill operators can create new opportunities for both environmental and economic value creation.

Beyond its environmental benefits, biomethane offers attractive economic opportunities across the entire value chain.

For landfill operators, biogas recovery creates new revenue streams from a resource that was long considered a by-product. It also supports local economic activity, from facility operations to the production and distribution of renewable energy.

For industrial energy users, biomethane represents a competitive alternative to fossil natural gas. Produced locally, it provides a reliable source of renewable energy while helping companies reduce their carbon footprint.

More broadly, biomethane contributes to energy security by increasing the share of domestically produced renewable gas. As energy demand continues to grow, it can help diversify supply sources and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.

The biomethane sector is experiencing strong growth in Brazil. Used for injection into gas networks and for mobility applications, the market has recorded an average annual growth rate of 21% over the past five years¹. Despite the rapid increase in production capacity, its development potential remains largely untapped.

The Combustível do Futuro Law (“Fuel of the Future”, Law No. 14,993 of October 8, 2024) marked a historic milestone for biomethane. Under the legislation, all natural gas sold, imported or self-produced must contain at least 1% of biomethane, with this requirement potentially increasing to 10%. The law also introduced the Biomethane Guarantee of Origin Certificate (CGOB), enabling the certification and tracking of renewable gas volumes.

By creating a clear and predictable regulatory framework, the legislation provides long-term visibility for project developers, landfill operators and investors, creating favourable conditions for the deployment of new biomethane facilities across the country.

Despite the progress made in recent years, considerable growth potential remains. According to data from ABiogás², the number of biomethane production facilities is expected to reach 200 by 2032, with an installed capacity of 8.0 million cubic metres per day (8Mm³/day), reflecting continued investment in the sector.

Combined with the country’s abundant biogas resources and growing demand for renewable energy, these developments position biomethane as an increasingly strategic component of Brazil’s energy future.

¹Source: https://www.worldbiogasassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/WBA-Market-Report-Brazil-2025.pdf

²Brazilian Biogas and Biomethane Association

To unlock this potential at scale, industrial solutions capable of upgrading biogas into biomethane efficiently and reliably are essential.

After 15 years of research and development, Waga Energy developed an innovative technology called WAGABOX®, which captures landfill gas generated from municipal solid waste and upgrades it into biomethane. This biomethane can either be injected directly into gas grids or transported to more remote locations, further expanding its market potential.

The solution enables:

• Maximum methane recovery
• Gas quality that meets grid specifications
• Continuous and high-performance operation

By combining proven landfill gas upgrading technology with a turnkey project delivery model, Waga Energy supports Brazil in reducing methane emissions and expanding its local production of renewable gas.

Brazil has the opportunity to transform one of its largest waste streams into a source of renewable energy. Converting landfill gas into biomethane is no longer only an environmental opportunity. It is becoming a strategic lever for decarbonization, energy resilience and sustainable economic development.

Renewable natural gas (RNG) is a 100% renewable energy source. It is obtained by purifying the biogas produced through the decomposition of organic matter, which includes plants, agricultural and agro-industrial waste, household waste, sewage plant sludge, and more. RNG shares an identical chemical composition and properties with fossil natural gas, enabling it to be directly injected into the existing natural gas distribution network as a fuel and utilized to power vehicles in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG).

RNG is a neutral gas in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The carbon emitted during its combustion was actually absorbed by living organisms and was already in the atmosphere when they appeared, in what is known as the short-term carbon cycle. In contrast, the use of fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas releases carbon into the atmosphere that has accumulated over millions of years in the Earth’s depths.

RNG contributes to the development of the circular economy. It is produced locally from organic waste and consumed by homes and businesses for heating, hot water, cooking, and transportation. It can be easily stored and transported using the existing gas infrastructure.

As a pillar of the energy transition, RNG contributes to local energy independence and replaces fossil fuels for transportation and heating, which account for the bulk of our energy needs and the largest share of our greenhouse gas emissions.

The production and consumption of renewable natural gas emits just 23.4 g CO₂-eq/kWh NCV¹, 10 times less than fossil natural gas that is extracted from underground and imported.

As a fuel, RNG makes it possible to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by up to 90%, compared with natural gas, gasoline, or diesel.

¹ The net calorific value (NCV) corresponds to the quantity of heat released during combustion per unit of volume or mass, without considering the energy supplied by the steam produced based on French data.

The facts

The decomposition of organic matter at landfill sites is one of the main causes of methane (CH₄) emissions released into the atmosphere, accounting for 5% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. This powerful greenhouse gas has a global warming potential 86 times greater than that of CO₂ over 20 years. According to the IMF, methane responsible for about 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the beginning of the industrial era (1850-1900).

According to the World Bank, humanity produces nearly 2 billion tons of solid municipal waste (organic matter and other domestic waste, waste from offices, businesses, and building sites) every year. As the global population rises, this volume of waste is expected to grow by 70% by 2050.

A huge reservoir of renewable energy

More countries are introducing proactive policies to encourage the production of RNG, enabling the sector to develop quickly. For example, the European Union has doubled its biomethane (also known as renewable natural gas) production targets, through the REPowerEU program, aiming for an annual volume of 35 billion cubic meters by 2030. By 2050, the EU is targeting biomethane production of 900 TWh, compared with 40 TWh in 2022.

The EU and the U.S. alone account for almost 90% of this increase. The U.S., the world’s largest biomethane producer since 2019, has seen significant growth of 20%, reaching 2 billion cubic meters in 2022 (i.e., almost 30% of global production), while the European Union has increase biomethane production by 15% to reach almost 4 billion cubic meters in 2022.

In France, biomethane production has risen by about 65% over 2021, to 0.65 billion cubic meters, making it the second-largest producer of biomethane in Europe.

In a July 2022 study on the outlook for biomethane production in EU Member States, the Gas for Climate consortium estimates that the countries with the highest production potential in 2050 are: France (22 billion m³ per year), Germany (22 billion m³ per year), Spain (20 billion m³ per year), and Italy (14 billion m³ per year).

The evolution of European regulations, structured by Directive 2008/98/EC, clearly aims to drastically reduce waste generation and to systematically recover any recoverable fraction, whether through material recycling or energy recovery. Landfilling is therefore reserved for residual waste — that is, waste that can no longer be reused, recycled, or otherwise recovered. 

However, all treatment streams — sorting, recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, and incineration — generate non-recoverable residues. Some of these non-hazardous residual waste streams still contain an organic fraction that cannot be recovered by upstream processes. 

Energy recovery from landfill biogas is a full-fledged waste recovery pathway in its own right. Once landfilled, organic matter naturally degrades and produces biogas, mainly composed of methane and CO₂. Methane is a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential far higher than that of carbon dioxide. It is therefore essential to capture, manage, and recover this biogas in order to limit atmospheric emissions and reduce the climate impact of landfill sites. 

Among the various recovery pathways available today, biomethane production stands out as the most effective and efficient solution, both from an energy and climate perspective. It produces biomethane of equivalent quality to natural gas, which can be directly injected into distribution or transmission networks. It also ensures optimal energy efficiency, higher than that achieved when biogas is used to generate electricity. Biomethane improves the environmental performance of landfill sites by substituting fossil fuels in high-emission sectors such as transport and industry. 

A landfill site equipped with an efficient gas capture system — capable of effectively controlling diffuse emissions — and an advanced purification solution producing biomethane becomes a genuine energy recovery pathway for the residual organic fraction (which cannot be recovered in agriculture). 

Landfill cells fitted with effective containment systems operate like unmixed digesters; the degradation of buried waste can be optimized through leachate recirculation practices (bioreactor landfill). The energy production of such a landfill site becomes comparable to that of anaerobic digestion units treating biowaste. 

However, biogas production lasts much longer — more than 20 years — because the organic matter is “diluted” within a mass of plastic and inorganic materials. For this reason, long-term biogas capture (during and after cell filling, and even after site closure) is a key challenge in landfill gas management and in maximizing the energy recovery potential of residual waste. 

Thus, when the landfill sector integrates sustainable biogas management and biomethane recovery, it fully assumes its role within the energy recovery chain of waste treatment. My colleague David Agudelo-Romero and I contributed to an article on this topic in Annales des Mines (January 2026 issue, No. 121), which shows how upgrading biogas into biomethane repositions non-hazardous waste landfilling at the heart of the energy transition. 

In September 2024, the U.S. EP issued enforcement alerts highlighting recurring compliance issues at municipal solid waste landfills, including excess surface emissions, deficiencies in GCCS design and maintenance, and inadequate cover integrity.

For landfill owners and operators, methane capture is no longer just an operational goal. It is central to environmental compliance, odor control, community relations, and the long-term value of landfill gas-to-energy and renewable natural gas projects.

What determines how much methane a landfill emits? The answer depends on more than gas generation alone. It also depends on how effectively that gas is collected, controlled, and used. The following five factors are among the most important drivers of landfill methane emissions and of capture performance.

The amount of waste placed in a landfill is one of the strongest drivers of methane generation. More waste generally means more gas potential, but composition matters just as much as volume.

Organic materials break down under anaerobic conditions and produce methane. Landfills receiving higher percentages of food waste, paper, cardboard, sludge, and other biodegradable materials typically generate more landfill gas than sites dominated by construction and demolition debris, ash, industrial residuals, or other lower-organic waste streams. This is why two landfills with similar disposal tonnage can have very different methane generation profiles.

This distinction is especially important for RNG development. A project depends not only on total waste-in-place but also on the biodegradable fraction of the waste, the age of disposal, moisture conditions, and the expected gas-generation curve over time. Models such as EPA LandGEM are commonly used in the United States to estimate landfill gas generation.

For RNG projects, waste characterization affects facility sizing, long-term flow forecasts, expected methane concentration, project economics, and the ability of future landfill gas production to support expansion. A site with continued MSW disposal may support a very different RNG profile than a landfill with similar tonnage but a large historical share of inert or low-organic material.

Even a high-gas landfill cannot perform well without a properly designed gas collection and control system, or GCCS. Engineering design determines whether generated methane has a practical pathway for collection or is more likely to migrate through the waste mass and escape to the surface.

Vertical wells need appropriate spacing, depth, screen interval, and seal construction to influence the waste mass without creating excessive air intrusion. In active filling areas, however, permanent vertical wells are not always practical because waste grades are still changing and heavy equipment is operating nearby. This is where horizontal collectors can play an important role. Installed beneath or within active cells, horizontal wells can help capture landfill gas earlier in the filling sequence, including gas migrating toward the working face or recently placed waste that has not yet received permanent cover. While open working faces will always be harder to control than closed or intermediate-covered areas, thoughtful use of horizontal collectors and coordinated filling practices can reduce fugitive emissions before the final vertical wellfield is installed.

Header pipes and laterals must be sized for current and future flows, and condensate management features such as sumps, knockouts, drip legs, and low-point drains must be located where liquids can be removed before they restrict gas movement.

Design also directly affects RNG project performance. RNG facilities require a reliable supply of landfill gas, but landfill gas quantity and composition are constantly changing. Waste age, filling sequence, cover conditions, atmospheric pressure, liquids, temperature, and applied vacuum can all affect gas quality and flow.

Poor well coverage, undersized piping, flooded laterals, inadequate condensate control, or limited blower capacity can restrict recoverable flow long before the gas reaches the RNG facility.

Operations and maintenance (O&M) may be less visible than design, but in practice, they are often the difference between a system that performs on paper and one that performs in the field.

The O&M team is the last line of defense against methane emissions. A landfill can have strong engineering, proper well spacing, adequate blower capacity, and well-designed piping, but if the GCCS is not actively operated and maintained, performance will decline. Landfills change every day. Pumps fail. Condensate traps flood. Header lines settle or become pinched. Wellheads get damaged by equipment. Wells in active areas need to be raised. Sumps lose their function. Liquids accumulate in wells and laterals, reducing available vacuum and limiting gas movement through the waste mass.

When these issues are not quickly identified and corrected, methane capture suffers. A flooded lateral or watered-in condensate trap can reduce vacuum to an entire section of the wellfield. A damaged wellhead can pull oxygen into the system or reduce effective extraction. A pinched or settled header can restrict flow even when the wells themselves are capable of producing more gas.

Strong methane control requires coordination between the landfill owner, the GCCS O&M team, the landfill operations team, and, where applicable, the RNG facility operator. Filling plans, cover placement, grading, stormwater management, leachate management, and GCCS maintenance all affect gas collection. If those teams are not aligned, gas capture can be compromised even when each group is doing its own job correctly.

RNG projects can also create a positive feedback loop. When landfill gas has long-term economic value, there is a stronger incentive to invest in wellfield expansion, condensate management, monitoring, preventive maintenance, and system optimization. Better GCCS performance can mean more methane captured, fewer fugitive emissions, improved odor control, and more feedstock available for RNG production.

Landfill gas tuning is where engineering, field conditions, data, and operator judgment come together.

At a minimum, landfill gas wells are typically evaluated for methane, carbon dioxide, oxygen, balance gas, temperature, flow, and applied vacuum. The technician must then decide whether each well should be opened further, held steady, or backed off. That decision directly affects whether methane is captured and conveyed to a control device or allowed to migrate and potentially escape through the landfill surface.

There is no universal formula for tuning a landfill gas well. Each landfill behaves differently, and often each well does as well. One well may respond well to additional vacuum and produce more methane-rich gas. Another may begin pulling oxygen at a very small increase in vacuum, suggesting poor cover, a compromised seal, a shallow screened interval, or another air intrusion pathway. A third may show strong methane concentration but low flow, indicating that gas is present but restricted by liquids or settlement.

Good tuning is not simply “pull harder.” It is controlled optimization. The goal is to maximize methane recovery while avoiding conditions that can create compliance or operational problems. This balance becomes even more important for RNG projects. Some upgrading technologies are sensitive to nitrogen and oxygen, which can pressure operators to reduce the vacuum to improve inlet gas quality. But reducing vacuum too aggressively can leave methane in the landfill, increase fugitive emissions, reduce total energy recovery, and create odor or compliance issues.

The best RNG project is not necessarily the one with the cleanest inlet gas on paper. It is the one that captures the most usable methane while maintaining environmental compliance and stable long-term operations.

Cover integrity is one of the most overlooked drivers of landfill methane emissions. Even when a gas collection system is well designed and properly operated, methane can still escape if the daily, intermediate, or final cover is cracked, thin, poorly compacted, or otherwise compromised. Surface defects can create preferential pathways that allow gas to bypass collection wells and vent directly to the atmosphere. In active disposal areas, maintaining cover quality can be especially challenging because traffic, settlement, weather, and ongoing filling activities constantly disturb the surface. Strong cover practices are therefore not just about odor or housekeeping—they are a critical part of methane control.

Reducing landfill methane emissions is not about one single fix. It requires accurate waste assumptions, sound GCCS design, disciplined maintenance, skilled field tuning, strong cover practices, and a well-coordinated beneficial-use strategy.

For RNG projects, methane capture is the foundation of project performance. A landfill gas upgrading facility does not create methane; it creates value from methane the landfill is already generating. The opportunity comes from collecting more of that methane, controlling it effectively, and upgrading it into pipeline-quality renewable natural gas that can replace fossil natural gas in existing infrastructure.

As regulatory scrutiny increases and methane monitoring becomes more transparent, the best-performing landfills will be those that treat methane capture as both a technical discipline and an operational priority.

Can Mata is one of the largest landfills in Spain. Operated by PreZero some 40 km from Barcelona, it spans 68 hectares and has received more than 20 million tonnes of waste over the past two decades. As in any landfill, the breakdown of organic matter releases a methane-rich gas that must be captured and put to use to curb its climate impact.

Until then, that biogas was mostly burned to generate electricity and to fuel a nearby ceramics plant. But the site's energy potential called for a step change: producing a grid-quality renewable gas able to displace fossil natural gas and serve local consumers directly.

The challenge was twofold: converting a large flow of landfill gas into grid-ready biomethane, and doing so within a Spanish market still in the early stages of biomethane development. Can Mata had to prove that a large-scale project could be financed, certified and operated over the long term without relying solely on public subsidies.

PreZero chose Waga Energy to produce biomethane from the landfill gas captured at Can Mata. Waga Energy deployed its WAGABOX® technology, which combines membrane filtration and cryogenic distillation to upgrade landfill gas into a biomethane that meets grid specifications.

The plant can process up to 2,200 Nm³ of raw gas per hour and produce up to 70 GWh of biomethane per year. The renewable gas is injected into the grid operated by Nedgia, a subsidiary of Naturgy, through a dedicated 6 km connection pipeline built as part of the project.

The project draws on an end-to-end value chain: PreZero provides the biogas resource and site know-how, Waga Energy finances, builds and operates the production unit, and Nedgia takes care of grid integration. The plant has also secured ISCC EU certification, confirming that it meets the sustainability and greenhouse-gas reduction criteria set out in the EU's RED II directive.

Can Mata also marks a milestone for Waga Energy's business model in Europe. The project was backed by Waga Energy's first Biomethane Purchase Agreement (BPA) in Europe: a long-term private offtake contract securing the sale of the biomethane produced by the plant. This agreement helped make the project bankable in a still-emerging Spanish biomethane market, and was complemented by a €2.4 million grant from the European Union under the Innovation Fund Small Scale call, which supports breakthrough technologies for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions.

Commissioned in June 2023 and officially inaugurated in October 2023, the Can Mata WAGABOX® is the first landfill-gas-to-biomethane plant in Spain. It stands among Waga Energy's flagship European projects and acts as a showcase for biomethane development across the Iberian Peninsula.

With output of up to 70 GWh per year, the plant covers the equivalent annual gas consumption of 14,000 Spanish households, or the fuel needed for 200 trucks or buses running on renewable gas. By replacing fossil natural gas with biomethane, it avoids around 18,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent every year.

The project has also strengthened biomethane integration into the Spanish gas grid. A reverse-flow station installed by Nedgia near Barcelona now absorbs the full output of the plant and extends the reach of renewable gas well beyond the local network it initially served.

Beyond its energy and climate performance, Can Mata shows how the Waga Energy model can be replicated: turning a by-product of waste management into local, certified renewable energy through a long-term partnership between a waste operator, a biomethane producer and a grid operator.

• Site: Can Mata landfill, Els Hostalets de Pierola, Catalonia
• Partners: PreZero, Waga Energy, Nedgia
• Technology: WAGABOX®
• Processing capacity: up to 2,200 Nm³/h of raw landfill gas
• Output: up to 70 GWh of biomethane per year
• Consumption equivalent: 14,000 Spanish households or 200 trucks/buses
• Climate impact: around 18,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent avoided per year
• Certification: ISCC EU
• Commercial framework: Waga Energy's first Biomethane Purchase Agreement (BPA) in Europe
• European support: €2.4 million through the Innovation Fund Small Scale

Steuben County has long treated its landfill in Bath as more than a disposal site. Since the county began operating its own solid waste system in the 1970s, it has gradually built an integrated public service around the landfill, including transfer stations, recycling programs, environmental monitoring and a leachate pre-treatment plant. The question was no longer only how to manage waste safely, but how to make better use of the resources generated by that activity.

One of these resources is landfill gas. At the site in Bath, as on all landfills, organic matter decomposes and releases a methane-rich gas that must be captured to control environmental impacts. For a public landfill operator, the next step is to turn this captured gas into biomethane, a renewable gas upgraded to pipeline quality and used as a substitute for fossil natural gas. In the United States, biomethane is commonly referred to as Renewable Natural Gas, or RNG; both terms describe the same product.

The county had long been committed to recovering value from this gas. As early as 2011, it commissioned a landfill-gas-to-electricity plant that generated power on site — an early demonstration of Steuben County’s forward-looking approach to renewable energy. As the electricity market evolved and the first-generation facility reached the end of its operating life, the county chose to look for a more efficient, longer-term way to make use of its landfill gas. In the meantime, the gas continued to be captured and flared to control emissions, pending a new solution.

Steuben County therefore launched a request for proposals to identify a partner able to recover the landfill gas produced at its landfill in Bath over the long term. The objective was not simply to install a piece of equipment, but to secure a reliable project capable of delivering technical performance, financing and integration with the local energy system.

Waga Energy responded to the county’s request for proposals with an integrated business model rather than a conventional equipment-supply offer. Its response combined four components: a proprietary technology designed for landfill gas, project financing carried by Waga Energy, a long-term operating service delivered by the company’s teams, and responsibility for selling the biomethane produced.

Under the 20-year agreement, Waga Energy develops, finances, builds, owns and operates the WAGABOX® unit installed at Steuben County’s landfill in Bath. This structure gives Steuben County access to a complete biomethane production solution without having to become the investor, technology provider or plant operator itself.

Developed and patented by Waga Energy, the WAGABOX® technology combines membrane filtration and cryogenic distillation. This process is specifically designed to treat landfill gas, including when its composition changes, and to produce biomethane that complies with gas grid requirements.

This model also organizes the roles of the partners clearly. Steuben County provides the landfill gas resource and the operating context of the site. Waga Energy takes responsibility for the biomethane production asset, its performance over time and the sale of the biomethane produced, with the revenues generated shared with Steuben County. The biomethane is then injected into the local gas network, making it available to energy consumers.

Commissioned on March 15, 2024, the WAGABOX® unit installed in Bath can produce up to 207,000 MMBtu, or around 60 GWh, of biomethane per year. This renewable gas is injected into the local network, supplying an alternative to fossil natural gas.

At full capacity, the facility produces the energy equivalent of approximately 1.5 million gallons of diesel fuel annually. By replacing fossil energy with biomethane, the project avoids around 13,500 tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions each year, based on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Landfill Gas Energy Benefits Calculator.

The project is also a milestone for Waga Energy’s international development: it is the company’s first WAGABOX® unit in the United States and the first municipal deployment of this technology in the country. Building on the county’s early efforts to recover its landfill gas, the new unit increased landfill-gas capture, because a more valuable end-product encourages better management of the gas collection system. It shows how an average-sized municipal landfill can become a source of local renewable energy, delivering greater methane abatement and lasting value for the community.

Speaking at the project’s inauguration following the start-up of the WAGABOX® unit, Kelly R. Fitzpatrick, Chair of the Steuben County Legislature, emphasized the significance of the milestone for the county: “This is a wonderful day for us and for future generations. Steuben County is proud to partner with Waga Energy and CNG to bring this project into reality.”

Eric Rose, Commissioner of Public Works for Steuben County, also highlighted the quality of the partnership: “The Wagateam demonstrated that they had great technical and professional resources to develop this project.”

By converting a local waste-management by-product into biomethane, the Steuben County project illustrates a practical pathway for reducing methane emissions, supplying renewable energy and creating value for local communities.

• Location: Steuben County’s landfill in Bath, New York, United States
• Customer: Steuben County
• Project developer and operator: Waga Energy
• Technology: WAGABOX® landfill gas upgrading unit
• Start-up date: March 15, 2024
• Agreement: 20-year contract
• Annual production capacity: up to 207,000 MMBtu (60 GWh) of biomethane
• Climate impact: around 13,500 tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions avoided per year, based on the EPA Landfill Gas Energy Benefits Calculator

The Scott Area Landfill, operated by the Waste Commission of Scott County, processes around 185,000 tonnes of waste each year from 17 communities across the county. Like every landfill, it naturally generates gas as waste decomposes — a resource rich in methane, but also a source of greenhouse gas emissions if left unmanaged.

On a site of this scale, however, converting landfill gas into a marketable renewable fuel is far from straightforward. The gas is produced in more modest volumes than on very large landfills, and its composition can vary over time, with significant levels of nitrogen and oxygen. Most upgrading technologies lose efficiency under these conditions, which has historically made mid-sized sites economically unattractive for renewable natural gas (RNG) projects.

The objective for Scott County was therefore to find a partner able to recover this gas reliably and profitably over the long term — without the county having to become an investor, technology provider or plant operator itself.

Waga Energy responded with an integrated model built around its patented WAGABOX® technology — and financed, built, owned and operates the unit under a 20-year agreement, sharing revenues with the Waste Commission of Scott County and Linwood Mining and Minerals, the owner of the site.

What makes the WAGABOX® particularly suited to sites like Scott Area is the robustness of its process. Combining membrane filtration and cryogenic distillation, it removes carbon dioxide, then isolates methane from the nitrogen and oxygen that pollute landfill gas. Unlike technologies that require low nitrogen content to operate efficiently, the WAGABOX® maintains high methane-recovery performance even with variable gas quality, and continuously adapts to changes in flow and composition while keeping the biomethane at pipeline-quality purity.

This resilience is precisely what makes renewable energy production viable on smaller and mid-sized landfills — sites that would otherwise be left out of the energy transition. As Guénaël Prince, CEO of Waga Energy Inc., put it, the project "demonstrates Waga Energy's expertise, through its innovative technology, to develop RNG projects on smaller landfills."

At Davenport, the biomethane produced is injected directly into the MidAmerican Energy pipeline, delivering a local, renewable alternative to fossil natural gas.

Commissioned in October 2025, the WAGABOX® unit at the Scott Area Landfill produces more than 205,000 MMBtu of biomethane annually — around 60 GWh, equivalent to the energy contained in roughly 1.5 million gallons of diesel fuel.

By capturing methane and substituting fossil natural gas, the project avoids approximately 15,800 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions every year.

Beyond the figures, the facility shows how a mid-sized landfill can become a genuine community asset — producing clean, locally sourced energy while advancing the county's environmental goals. Bringing together the Waste Commission of Scott County, Linwood Mining and Minerals and Waga Energy — alongside the American Biogas Council at its November 2025 inauguration — the project stands as a replicable model, directly relevant to the many similar sites still waiting to unlock their renewable potential.

• Location: Davenport, Scott County, Iowa, United States
• Landfill operator: Waste Commission of Scott County
• Landfill owner (site): Linwood Mining and Minerals
• Project developer, owner and operator: Waga Energy (20-year agreement)
• Technology: WAGABOX® landfill gas upgrading unit
• Capacity: 1,000 scfm of landfill gas
• Annual biomethane production: More than 205,000 MMBtu (around 60 GWh)
• Grid connection: MidAmerican Energy pipeline
• Emissions avoided: Approximately 15,800 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent per year
• Waste processed on site: Around 185,000 tonnes per year, from 17 communities
• Commissioning: October 2025 (inaugurated November 2025)