Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/21781
Title: The decay of wood in landfills in contrasting climates in Australia
Contributor(s): Ximenes, Fabiano (author); Björdal, Charlotte (author); Cowie, Annette  (author); Barlaz, Morton (author)
Publication Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2015.03.032
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/21781
Abstract: Wood products in landfill are commonly assumed to decay within several decades, returning the carbon contained therein to the atmosphere, with about half the carbon released as methane. However, the rate and extent of decay is not well known, as very few studies have examined the decay of wood products in landfills. This study reports on the findings from landfill excavations conducted in the Australian cities of Sydney and Cairns located in temperate and tropical environments, respectively. The objective of this study was to determine whether burial of the wood in warmer, more tropical conditions in Cairns would result in greater levels of decay than occurs in the temperate environment of Sydney. Wood samples recovered after 16–44 years in landfill were examined through physical, chemical and microscopic analyses, and compared with control samples to determine the carbon loss. There was typically little or no decay in the wood samples analysed from the landfill in Sydney. Although there was significant decay in rainforest wood species excavated from Cairns, decay levels for wood types that were common to both Cairns and Sydney landfills were similar. The current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2006) default decay factor for organic materials in landfills is 50%. In contrast, the carbon loss determined for Pinus radiata recovered from Sydney and Cairns landfills was 7.9% and 4.4%, respectively, and 0% for Agathis sp. This suggests that climate did not influence decay, and that the more extensive levels of decay observed for some wood samples from Cairns indicates that those wood types were more susceptible to biodegradation. Microscopic analyses revealed that most decay patterns observed in samples analysed from Sydney were consistent with aerobic fungal decay. Only a minor portion of the microbial decay was due to erosion bacteria active in anaerobic/near anaerobic environments. The findings of this study strongly suggest that models that adopt current accepted default factors for the decay of wood in landfills greatly overestimate methane emissions.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Waste Management, v.41, p. 101-110
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
Place of Publication: United Kingdom
ISSN: 1879-2456
0956-053X
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 070599 Forestry Sciences not elsewhere classified
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 300799 Forestry sciences not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 860599 Wood, Wood Products and Paper not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 241704 Wood products
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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