Satellites, super‑emitters, and smarter waste policy
Satellite and remote sensing technologies are rapidly altering how the solid waste sector approaches its climate impact, including how the sector views its most acute source of pollution: methane super-emitters. Landfills and dumpsites have long been known to emit methane; the waste sector is responsible for about 20% of anthropogenic methane emissions, and emissions are expected to increase rapidly alongside increases in population, urbanization, and consumption. But emissions from individual disposal sites remain poorly understood, with landfill operators typically modelling facility emissions based on assumed waste quantities and compositions, waste decay rates, and gas collection rates (for facilities with gas capture infrastructure). The current approach leaves uncertainty in where emissions are highest and where mitigation action is most urgently required. Satellite observations are now helping to fill that gap, enabling transparency and visibility into methane emissions from disposal sites by providing new data to refine our understanding of landfill emissions, while identifying high emitting sites where action is needed.
How satellite detection works
Aerial remote sensing technologies (e.g., satellites and aircrafts), use instruments called spectrometers to detect methane’s infrared absorption pattern. When a spectrometer detects methane’s specific pattern, specialized algorithms can then be used to estimate the emissions rate of methane from a specific source. With these emissions rates, landfill operators, governments, and researchers can quantify emissions to prioritize sites for mitigation efforts, improve modeled facility-level methane estimates, and pinpoint emissions sources and leaks to determine appropriate mitigation actions, as well as improve inventories. Aerial remote sensing complements traditional ground-level methane detection at landfills by providing a birds-eye-view of a site, often with a lower cost or level of labor. For more information, see CATF’s guide to monitoring and quantifying methane emissions from the waste sector.
Landfill super-emitters are major sources of methane pollution worldwide
Landfill super-emitters are disposal sites with persistent and large point1 sources of emissions. These high polluting sites can be found on every continent (except Antarctica) and emit over 6.1 million tons of methane per year. A recent analysis by UCLA’s Stop Methane Project identified the top 25 landfill super emitters in 2025, as observed by Planet Labs’ Tanager-1 satellite and NASA’s EMIT instrument on the International Space Station (Table 1). While these facilities are found worldwide, these top emitters are primarily located in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa.
Table 1. Top 25 landfill and dumpsite super-emitters in 2025
| No. | Location | Nearby City / Area Served | Emission Rate (tonnes/hr) | Potentially Responsible Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Campo de Mayo, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina | Buenos Aires | 7.6 | CEAMSE |
| 2 | Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia | Jakarta | 6.3 | Jakarta Government |
| 3 | Jeram, Selangor, Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | 6.0 | Worldwide Holdings |
| 4 | Secunderabad, Telangana, India | Hyderabad | 5.9 | Ramky Enviro Engineers |
| 5 | Tiltil, Chile | Santiago | 5.5 | KDM Tratamiento |
| 6 | Talagante, Chile | Santiago | 5.2 | Consorcio Santa Marta |
| 7 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | 5.1 | Riyadh Municipality |
| 8 | Kamphaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand | Bangkok | 5.0 | Group 79 Co. Ltd |
| 9 | Penco, Biobío, Chile | Concepcion | 5.0 | Grupo EBI |
| 10 | Fazenda Rio Grande, Paraná, Brazil | Curitiba | 4.9 | Estre |
| 11 | Al Jumum, Saudi Arabia | Jeddah | 4.9 | Seder |
| 12 | Maharashtra, India | Mumbai | 4.9 | Antony Waste Handling Cell Ltd |
| 13 | Caieiras, Brazil | São Paulo | 4.8 | Solvi |
| 14 | Rodriguez, Rizal, Philippines | Manila | 4.6 | International Solid Waste Integrated Management Specialist |
| 15 | Algiers, Algeria | Algiers | 4.3 | GECETAL |
| 16 | Hong Kong North District, S.A.R. | Hong Kong | 4.2 | Far East Landfill Technologies Ltd. |
| 17 | Simeprodeso, Nuevo León, Mexico | Monterey | 4.1 | Government of Nuevo Léon |
| 18 | Southern District, Israel | Multiple cities served | 4.1 | Veridis Environment |
| 19 | Fyli, Attica, Greece | Athens | 4.0 | EDSNA |
| 20 | Mauá, Brazil | São Paulo | 4.0 | Grupo Boa Hora |
| 21 | Needville, Texas, U.S. | Houston | 3.8 | Green For Life Environmental |
| 22 | Ray County, Iran | Tehran | 3.8 | The Tehran Waste Management Organization (TWMO) |
| 23 | Rajm Khashman – Muslan, Al Ahmadi, Kuwait | Kuwait City | 3.8 | Kuwait Municipality |
| 24 | Şile, Türkiye | Istanbul | 3.8 | İSTAÇ, subsidiary of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality |
| 25 | Menemen, Türkiye | İzmir | 3.6 | Metropolitan Municipality of İzmir |
In some countries, landfill super-emitters represent a large portion of a country’s waste sector emissions. Recent data from Carbon Mapper show that the top 3 emitting disposal sites in Malaysia are responsible for nearly 40% of waste sector emissions in the country. By prioritizing and providing funding for mitigation efforts at the high polluting sites, governments can make real progress towards their climate targets for the sector.
Using satellite data to shape decision making
Access to satellite data is still relatively new in the waste sector. And as often happens with new information, decision makers and operators can be wary of it as they may not have the experience or knowledge to best utilize it. In the case of satellite data, this wariness is often exacerbated by the fact that many stakeholders (i.e., landfill operators, local governments responsible for waste management, Ministries of Environment, etc.) may not be informed that disposal sites are being observed and only find out after-the-fact when they are notified of high emitting facilities by third party satellite data providers.
However, governments that incorporate satellite and remote sensing tools into mitigation efforts early on have the opportunity to shape the narrative and drive down solid waste methane emissions. Remote sensing can help identify super-emitters for targeted intervention, while pinpointing the source of methane plumes puts actionable data in the hands of operators and local governments best positioned to act. Repeat observations can then confirm and validate that emissions reductions have occurred. This strategy has been shown to be effective in cutting landfill methane emissions in the states of California and Pennsylvania in the United States.
Some of the most effective policies and regulations incorporate satellite and remote sensing data into leak detection and repair programs, monitoring, reporting and verification schemes (MMRV), and improvements in national and local inventories. While these innovative instruments are more common in the fossil fuel sector, they are slowly being adopted for the waste sector as well. For more information on these policies, see three trends shaping waste sector methane mitigation in 2026.
What’s next
Satellite data are helping to highlight the importance of waste methane mitigation at a time when action is critical. Due to wastes’ slow decay in landfills and dumpsites, the actions we take in this decade will define the mitigation benefits that can be achieved through 2040 and 2050. Moving forward, national governments need to dedicate the capacity to understand and adopt policies and regulations that utilize satellite and remote sensing data for monitoring emissions from landfills and dumpsites.
Intelligent policies can help spur use of these data through voluntary notification and response programs, increased technical assistance to build capacity within local governments and private operators, and access to funding for early adopters or verified mitigation. For example, joint efforts by Brazil’s Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima, Carbon Mapper, and CATF aim to address this gap and foster incorporation of satellite and remote sensing tools by aligning the waste super emitter initiative with capacity strengthening. In crafting these programs, decision makers can both incentivize and verify emissions reductions from disposal sites and strengthen compliance with other waste sector targets such as landfill bans and pollution standards, and biowaste recycling targets.
1 Point sources of emissions are fixed, identifiable locations from which pollutants are released into the atmosphere.
