SCS Engineers announces that Peter J. “Pete” Carrico, a Senior Vice President and Business Unit Director of SCS Field Services, will receive the Solid Waste Association of North America’s Landfill Gas and Biogas Division Hall of Flame Award. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant and sustained contributions to the landfill gas and biogas industry.
Carrico has spent more than 40 years helping build, operate, troubleshoot, and advance landfill gas systems across North America. He joined SCS in 1985, the same year SCS Field Services was established as a division of SCS Engineers, beginning his career with the firm on a landfill gas project. Since then, he has progressed from field technician to senior executive, helping lead an operations, maintenance, and monitoring practice that supports landfill owners and operators nationwide.
“I am honored to be recognized with the Hall of Flame Award. My more than 40-year career with SCS Engineers in the landfill gas industry has been greatly enriched by the friendships and professional relationships I have built with colleagues at SCS and throughout the industry. SWANA has played an important role in that journey, providing opportunities to collaborate, learn, and engage with some of the brightest minds in the landfill gas field. For that, I am sincerely grateful,” said Pete.
Throughout his career, Carrico has contributed to the industry’s technical development through recurring authorship and presentations at SWANA’s Annual Landfill Gas Symposium. His work has addressed topics central to modern landfill gas practice, including emissions, monitoring, condensate treatment, migration control, data management, temporary flaring, and inspection technology.
In addition to his technical leadership, Carrico has served the profession through SWANA’s Virginia Old Dominion Chapter and recently retired as Co-Chair of the Landfill Gas and Biogas Division Awards Committee, helping to recognize industry excellence and support knowledge sharing among solid waste professionals.
Clients and colleagues know Carrico as a practical problem-solver, mentor, and trainer with deep field experience that translates to operational efficiency. Through his leadership at SCS, he has helped strengthen operating practices, site-specific system performance, and safety and technical training for landfill gas professionals.
“Pete represents exactly what the Hall of Flame honors — career-long service, technical excellence, operational leadership, and a deep commitment to sharing knowledge,” said SCS CEO Doug Doerr. “We are grateful for his contributions to our clients, our colleagues, SWANA, and the landfill gas profession.”
SCS Engineers congratulates Carrico on this well-deserved recognition and celebrates his lasting impact on the landfill gas and biogas industry. Say hello at RCon or visit SCS online.
SCS Engineers is proud to announce that Eric Peterson, PE, Vice President and Director of the firm’s Medford, New Jersey office, will be honored with the SWANA Landfill Gas & Biogas Technical Division Distinguished Individual Achievement Award at RCon in September.
The award recognizes long-term service to the landfill gas and biogas industry, contributions to SWANA’s mission of transforming waste into a resource, service to the Landfill Gas & Biogas Technical Division, and meaningful contributions to one’s employer and the broader solid waste management field.
Eric said. “I am delighted and honored to receive this recognition from SWANA for my 40-plus years in the landfill gas industry. I’ve enjoyed working in this multifaceted industry, which has afforded me the opportunity to advance practical solutions for methane migration, fugitive emissions, odor control, energy recovery, and public health and safety. The vibrant SWANA landfill gas division has also been a great resource for collaboration and camaraderie.”
Peterson has spent his career helping landfill owners and operators turn environmental challenges into practical, economically viable clean-energy and compliance solutions. His work includes the design of more than 200 landfill gas recovery and control systems; technical and financial due diligence for renewable natural gas and energy projects; methane mitigation, odor control, and hydrogen sulfide treatment; and strategies for managing deep and high-liquid landfills.
“Eric represents the best of SCS Engineers and the landfill gas profession,” said SCS CEO Doug Doerr. “He combines deep technical knowledge with a practical understanding of what facility owners, communities, regulators, and clean-energy investors need to succeed. His work has helped make landfill gas recovery more reliable, more affordable, and more valuable as a renewable energy resource.”
A longtime contributor to SWANA, Peterson has supported the organization through technical education, chapter leadership, committee participation, and landfill gas training. He has helped develop and share best practices that improve gas-capture efficiency, strengthen compliance, and advance the industry’s ability to convert waste-generated methane into usable energy.
Peterson’s influence also extends internationally. He has presented at seminars and conferences supporting landfill gas, biogas, and emissions management in multiple countries. He has helped apply U.S. regulatory and engineering expertise to international landfill emissions programs.
At SCS, Peterson has played a key role in standardizing landfill gas technical practices across the firm, mentoring emerging engineers and scientists, and expanding the company’s landfill gas, biogas, odor control, renewable energy, and due diligence services. Colleagues describe him as a careful listener, thoughtful collaborator, and steady technical leader whose mentorship has helped shape the next generation of environmental professionals.
Please join us in congratulating Eric on this well-deserved honor and thanking him for his lasting contributions to SCS Engineers, SWANA, and the landfill gas and biogas industry.
Join industry professionals in Roanoke, Virginia, for a half-day seminar on Friday, March 13 at Hotel Roanoke. This event will feature the latest regulatory, policy, and technological updates impacting the solid waste, landfill, landfill gas, and sustainable materials management industries. This program delivers practical insights from experienced practitioners and regulators to help attendees stay current on evolving requirements, emerging technologies, and industry best practices.
Full event attendance provides four (4) CPE/T contact hours applicable toward Virginia DPOR Class I & II license renewal.
RSVP Here: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/xepmdav
Join industry professionals in Richmond, Virginia, for a half-day seminar on Thursday, March 12 at the Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center. This event will feature the latest regulatory, policy, and technological updates impacting the solid waste, landfill, landfill gas, and sustainable materials management industries. This program delivers practical insights from experienced practitioners and regulators to help attendees stay current on evolving requirements, emerging technologies, and industry best practices.
Full event attendance provides four (4) CPE/T contact hours applicable toward Virginia DPOR Class I & II license renewal.
RSVP Here: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/xepmdav
Models to calculate landfill methane emissions fail to account for the benefits of waste diversion projects, including Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facilities, which now must count CO2 emissions in the Emissions Trading System (ETS).
Landfill methane dominates waste sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet, waste management professionals have not reached a scientific consensus on a reliable method to estimate methane emissions and the reductions from diverting organics from landfills.
Lifecycle assessment models estimate the long-term benefits of different waste management strategies. Still, they cannot produce realistic estimates of landfill methane generation and emissions to guide short-term planning efforts or monitor their progress. Landfill gas (LFG) emissions vary widely over time due to changing conditions that impact generation and the efficiency of LFG collection and control systems.
LFG models have the capability to account for such variability, but few go beyond the simple methods required for reporting emissions. Emissions estimates depend on assigned values for waste decay rates (k), methane generation potential (Lo), and LFG collection system efficiency, which have little empirical basis due to the inability to measure LFG generation directly or to find a valid way to solve simultaneously for these variables.
In the U.S., landfills have relied on a simple model, the EPA’s LandGEM, which used default k values developed in 1996 for “bulk” wastes disposed in dry or wet climates for three decades. Starting in 2010, U.S. landfills were required to report GHG emissions using slightly higher model k values for three climate categories assigned without referenced research.
The default input assumptions to model LFG generation in LandGEM and the GHG Reporting Rule persisted until 2025. Recent reports on satellite-based methane emissions measurements suggested that EPA methods often underreported landfill methane emissions and fueled efforts by environmental groups to force changes to the requirements for GHG reporting. However, the EPA solved for k using reported estimates of collection efficiency treated as valid “data” for model calibration. Nevertheless, the final version of the revised GHG Reporting Rules published in April 2024 (40 CFR 98 – see Table HH-1) used this method to assign values of 0.033, 0.067, and 0.098 for model k values in dry, moderate, and wet climates in the U.S., respectively. When run in the “AP-42 Emissions Inventory Mode,” the new LandGEM (3.1) version released in January 2025 now assigns k and Lo values based on the new GHG Reporting Rule.
Most European countries use the 2006 IPCC model, which applies multiple waste categories to estimate landfill methane emissions. Like LandGEM, IPCC’s model fails to recognize that waste decay rates vary incrementally across a wide range, reflecting different climates and moisture levels in landfills. IPCC offers four climate categories but only two for moisture levels, putting all landfills in Europe in the dry, temperate group.
Underestimating landfill methane emissions also undervalues the benefits of diverting organic waste from disposal. The inclusion of CO2 emissions from waste-to-energy in the EU Emissions Trading System will increase the costs of WTE and could drive an increase in landfilling unless avoided methane emissions are fully credited.
The best public tools for estimating landfill methane generation and emissions are country-specific LFG models developed by the Global Methane Initiative and EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program and created by SCS Engineers between 2007 and 2014, which use IPCC’s multi-phase structure and improve on the k values to cover up to five climate zones.
About the Author: Alex Stege is a Vice President, Senior Project Advisor, and SCS Engineers’ National Expert on Landfill Gas Modeling. He leads SCS’s non-regulatory landfill gas (LFG) recovery modeling services, which have for decades supported developers and investors in LFG-to-energy and renewable natural gas (RNG) projects. Over nearly three decades, Mr. Stege has developed and updated the SCS LFG Recovery Model and led the team that applied it to prepare LFG recovery projections for methane utilization projects at hundreds of landfills in North America.
SCS Engineers is again hosting our popular half-day Solid Waste Seminar in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on June 5. Lunch is included.
This annual seminar covers the latest regulatory, policy, and technology developments in solid waste, landfill, landfill gas, and sustainable materials management. It is designed for solid waste management professionals, landfill managers, waste/recycling managers, supervisors, and operators.
This year’s presentations will be
Please see the flyer for registration information. We hope to see you there!
Join SCS Engineers professionals, including our National Landfill Expert, Betsy Powers, for the Solid Waste Landfill Design Course, April 1-3 at the Pyle Center in Madison, WI.
During the course you will have the opportunity to learn about the critical factors of solid waste landfill design, operations, evolving industry issues, and economics. Learn from expert and diverse course faculty (top-flight researchers, owners at the cutting edge of evolving practice, industry experts). Get a firm grasp of the background and design specifics to compete in this industry, including industry-leading information on the principles and practices of solid waste landfill development, design, construction, operations, and management. Understand practical emerging technologies including:
This course will guide you through the development process of a successful solid waste landfill, from cradle to grave. Industry experts will share critical factors and insights. Interactive discussion and idea exchange will be emphasized. Click to learn more and enroll today.
The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is working to develop a new regulation aimed at reducing methane emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in the state. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with a global warming potential over 25 times greater than carbon dioxide. The new requirements MDE is considering are modeled after similar rules in California and Oregon and would become among the most stringent in the US. MDE anticipates publication of the draft rule in December 2022, followed by public participation and finalization of the rule in the spring of 2023.
This proposed rulemaking has been several years in development and is consistent with Maryland’s GHG Reduction Act of 2009 and the recent Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 that requires Maryland to become “net zero” for GHG emissions by 2045, with an interim goal of achieving 60% GHG reductions by 2031 (over 2006 levels). MDE estimates that once implemented; this rule could result in up to a 50% reduction in GHG emissions from affected landfills.
MDE presented initial details about the draft regulation (aka, the state plan) at the October 24, 2022, Air Quality Control Advisory Council and stakeholder meeting. The proposed rule would apply to smaller and mid-sized landfills. It would likely impact many facilities not currently subject to the EPA’s federal landfill air regulations under NSPS & EG 40 CFR 60 Subparts Cf and XXX and NESHAP CFR 63 Subpart AAAA. MDE estimates that 32 active and closed MSW landfills in the state will be subject to the proposed regulation.
SCS Engineers is tracking the proposed rule closely, so stay tuned for additional details once the draft rule is published.
For additional information on MSW regulations and GHG emission reductions, please visit scsengineers.com or one of SCS’s nationwide offices.
About the Author: Joshua Roth, PE, is a Vice President and Project Director with the Landfill Gas (LFG) Group in the SCS Reston, VA office. He has served on a number of LFG engineering projects involving LFG remediation system design, emissions inventories and air permitting, migration and odor control, ambient air sampling and reporting, LFG and CER due diligence projects, GHG emission mitigation and reporting, field sampling and assessments, and general emissions control projects.
Using the Solid Waste Emissions Estimation Tool (SWEET), in 2020, International Solid Waste Association’s (ISWA) Task Force on Closing Dumpsites completed a study of waste sector short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Tyre Caza, Lebanon. SWEET model runs used data on municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, collection, disposal, and diversion under existing and potential alternative management scenarios proposed in an Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) for Tyre Caza. Waste sector emissions reductions exceeding 45% of baseline levels are achievable by 2030 if all dumpsites are closed and remediated, waste burning is stopped, and a new sanitary landfill is developed with 60% methane collection and combustion. Additional emissions reduction accrues from implementing the IWMP and upgrading existing waste treatment facilities to increase waste diversion rates from current levels (22%, including informal sector recycling) to 40%. Estimates of all of Lebanon’s waste sector emissions using SWEET were developed for this mini-review article using published data on the amounts of MSW collected, disposed, and diverted, with adjustments to account for indirect GHG reductions from composting and anaerobic digestion (AD). A 50% reduction in emissions from baseline levels can be achieved by 2034 if, by 2025 diversion of collected wastes to recycling, composting, and AD facilities are increased from 14% to 28%, and all residual MSW is disposed of in sanitary landfills with 65% methane recovery.
Conclusion: SWEET allows solid waste planners to compare emissions resulting from implementing different programs and to quantify the effectiveness of available waste management options in reducing emissions of GHGs and air pollutants. Full article access is on Sage Journals.
About SWEET: SWEET was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the auspices of the Global Methane Initiative and in support of the CCAC. Abt Associates and SCS Engineers supported the development of SWEET. SWEET provides estimates for the full suite of GHG and air pollutant emissions in the waste sector, including methane, black carbon, CO2, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulates, and organic carbon (CCAC, 2018). Emissions estimates are provided for the following sources: (1) waste collection and transportation, (2) open burning of waste, (3) landfills and open dumps, (4) organic waste management facilities (composting and anaerobic digesters), (5) waste-to-energy facilities and (6) waste handling equipment. Note that emissions from fuel and waste combustion are the only CO2 emissions included in SWEET’s calculations, which exclude biogenic CO2 emissions from waste disposal sites. Published reports by the US EPA (e.g., EPA, 1998, 2015), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (e.g., IPCC, 2006), and other sources (e.g., SCS Engineers, 2007, 2009; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2004) were used to develop calculation methods and emissions factors for the waste sector emissions sources. CO2e conversions use a 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP). The black carbon GWP is 900 (Bond et al., 2013).
Meet SCS Engineers professionals and visit us at BOOTH 111 at SWANA’s SOAR (Sustainability, Operations, Action, Resources) Conference, April 17-20, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
SWANA’s new premier technical spring conference, themed “Technical Solutions for Resource Management,” will bring together industry professionals from ALL disciplines of the resource management community. Hear presentations by SCS professionals, including
Kelli Farmer: “From Drilling to Digesting: An Aerobic Digestion Feasibility Study” [Wed, April 19 (9:00 am – 9:45 am)]
Daniel Dietch (co-presenting with Kanika Greenlee, City of Atlanta, and Craig Wittig of The Recycling Partnership): “How Did Atlanta Do That: Improving Recycling Access, Participation, and Program Resiliency” [Wed, April 19 (10:00 am – 10:45 am)]
Nathan Hamm (co-presenting with Nathan Mayer of Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County and Manuel Hernandez (formerly of SCS) of Progressive Environmental Services): “Leachate Treatment and System Maintenance Issues” [Wed, April 19 (10:00 am – 10:45 am)]Join professionals in Collection & Transfer, Landfill Gas & Biogas, Landfill Management, Waste Conversion & Energy Recovery, and Sustainable Materials Management at this enhanced and productive technical summit. Spend a few days diving deep into technical education, developing new business connections at networking events and joining game-changing conversations with experts in North America. Most importantly, you’ll leave SOAR with actionable, fact-based solutions to implement in your facilities.
Delivering practical solutions to the solid waste industry’s most difficult problems, SWANA SOAR showcases the promising technologies, ideas, and solutions that transform waste into a resource. As SWANA’s premier technical conference, SOAR connects experts and problem solvers in industry-changing conversations about your most complex challenges.
Click for more details and registration information
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