Thanks to the work of Environmental Credit Corp. (ECC), a supplier of environmental credits to global financial markets, the biogas collection system that is back online at the Newton-McDonald County Landfill in Neosho, Mo., is generating carbon credits.

The system will collect then combust the landfill gas (LFG) to annually reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equivalent to roughly 40,000 metric tons of CO₂ for the next 10 years. This yearly GHG reduction is equivalent to taking 7,275 passenger cars off the road.

The Newton-McDonald County Landfill began its operations in 1974, reaching capacity and ceasing collection of additional waste material in 1997. Previous owners installed the LFG collection system in an effort to reduce GHG emissions, but the system was shut down when it became too expensive to maintain. Since then, the landfill has been releasing GHG into the atmosphere.

With the system back up, the new owners, Solid Waste Properties, turned to ECC for help in converting the captured LFG emissions into carbon credits. Revenue from the sale of carbon credits provides the income required to keep the emissions capture system up and running.

The credits are sold through the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the world's first and North America's largest GHG emissions registry and trading system. Following the rules outlined by CCX, the landfill operates a pipeline network that collects LFG. After the gas is collected and purified, it is flared and metered according to the CCX program guidelines. The Newton-McDonald project will continue through 2018. More information on ECC is available at www.envcc.com.