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As cities across Asia and the Pacific expand, urban solid waste has become one of the region’s fastest-growing environmental challenges. Rapid population growth, changing consumption patterns and underdeveloped infrastructure have intensified the scale of waste generation - particularly food, organic and plastic waste. Beyond the visible impacts of pollution and landfill overflows, waste is also a major driver of climate change through methane emissions.
While carbon dioxide dominates global climate discussions, methane (CH?) - over 80 times more potent than CO? over 20 years - is the greenhouse gas that could make or break the region’s climate future. A new ESCAP technical paper, Mitigating Urban Methane Emissions: Strategies and Actions in Asia and the Pacific, reveals just how urgent and solvable this challenge is. The region generated nearly 25 million tonnes of methane in 2024, with wastewater alone responsible for about 60% of emissions. If unmanaged, methane will accelerate warming just as cities struggle with rising heat, floods, food insecurity and pollution.
Waste as a critical climate issue
Methane is responsible for roughly 30% of today’s global temperature rise, yet it lasts only about 12 years in the atmosphere. That means methane reduction creates near instant cooling, unlike CO? which lingers for centuries. Municipal solid waste (MSW) in the Asia-Pacific region has been increasing, and food and organic waste represent a significant share of the total which are responsible for more than half of methane emissions from the waste sector. Meanwhile, plastic waste - though not traditionally linked to methane - also contributes to emissions as it degrades under sunlight and through microbial activity in unmanaged dumpsites.
High-income countries typically generate more waste per capita but have stronger systems for waste collection and treatment. In contrast, many low- and middle-income countries lack adequate infrastructure, resulting in widespread open dumping, inefficient landfills, and poor methane capture. Without targeted action, these conditions could lead to a doubling of landfill methane emissions by 2050.
Applying a waste hierarchy for methane mitigation
Effective waste management is essential for climate action. ESCAP advocates for the application of circular economy principles tailored to both organic and plastic waste streams. A waste hierarchy - from prevention and reuse to recycling, recovery and safe disposal - offers a framework for countries to reduce methane emissions and transition towards sustainable systems.
For food and organic waste:
Prevention is the most impactful strategy, reducing waste before it is created. Public policies like France’s unsold food waste ban and Republic of Korea’s pay-as-you-throw system have proven effective.
Reuse and redistribution of edible food can prevent unnecessary disposal. Community kitchens and food banks offer scalable solutions.
Recycling, through composting or anaerobic digestion, diverts organics from landfills and creates useful by-products such as biogas and fertiliser.
Recovery methods like incineration can reduce waste volume but are less effective for wet organic matter and must be carefully managed.
Disposal in landfills should be the last resort, reserved only for residual waste, with engineered sites designed to capture landfill gas.
Financing and partnerships for scalable action
Despite the high impact potential, methane mitigation from waste remains underfunded. Yet many strategies - such as composting and biogas generation - are cost-effective and offer co-benefits including energy savings, reduced landfill pressure and improved health outcomes.
To scale up efforts, countries must unlock new financing sources. This includes climate funds, carbon markets and public-private partnerships. Global initiatives like the Global Methane Pledge and the COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste are setting the stage for increased ambition, but implementation hinges on mobilising financial and technical support, particularly for cities in lower-income regions.
Recommendations for the road ahead
To help policymakers turn global and national methane commitments into practical urban-level actions, there are five pillars that are recommended:
Mainstream urban waste methane into national climate policy and initiatives, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and local low-carbon development plans.
Prioritise organic and plastic waste within circular waste hierarchies, focusing on prevention, recycling and safe disposal.
Strengthen Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems to ensure transparent, reliable data for emissions tracking and policy evaluation.
Mobilise finance and partnerships to scale up proven waste solutions and support innovation across urban contexts.
Strengthen regional assessment and cooperation to foster innovation and bring together the strengths, resources, and expertise of diverse stakeholders.
Reducing methane from waste is among the fastest and most cost-effective ways to slow climate change. As Asia and the Pacific urbanises, seizing this opportunity is not just an environmental imperative - it is a critical step towards building cleaner, healthier and more resilient cities.
