Organic waste management (i.e. composting and anaerobic digestion) represent a key opportunity for achieving the reduction of short-lived climate pollutants from the municipal solid waste sector. Planning and developing such projects requires a detailed understanding of the costs involved in constructing and operating organic waste management facilities.

OrganEcs is a tool for estimating the costs associated with an organic waste management project. It provides planning-level assistance to local governments, waste professionals, policymakers, facility operators, and project developers to help them make financial decisions about their potential organic waste management projects.

OrganEcs was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the auspices of the Global Methane Initiative and in support of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on behalf of the Global Methane Initiative (GMI), developed the Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Screening Tool to assist stakeholders in assessing the potential feasibility of an AD project.

The AD Screening Tool enables users to conduct pre-feasibility analyses to evaluate AD opportunities for a variety of feedstocks, including organic municipal solid waste, livestock manure, agricultural residues, and wastewater. The tool generates the following outputs:

• Annual biogas and digestate production
• Project methane emission reductions
• Potential end uses of biogas, including estimates for electricity production, natural gas production, cooking gas potential, and home heating potential

This tool is intended to help project developers, government agencies, financial institutions, and other stakeholders conduct an initial screening assessment of the technical and financial feasibility of proposed AD projects.

Tutorials

Estimating Biogas Production

The Biogas Wastewater Assessment Technology Tool (BioWATT) provides a quick and preliminary assessment of wastewater-to-energy projects. Through BioWATT, users can receive a specific summary of their biogas production estimates for various wastewater-to-energy technologies, electricity generation potential from the produced biogas, greenhouse gas savings associated with biogas-generated electricity, and more.

This fact sheet provides an overview of methane emissions generated in both wastewater collection systems and at wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Topics include wastewater collection systems, conventional activated sludge (CAS) treatment systems, aerobic/aerated lagoon treatment systems, and anaerobic lagoon treatment systems. Biosolids management and opportunities for methane mitigation and use are also described.