How does trash produce methane?

Question

What are the specifics in how trash and landfills are able to produce a lot of methane?

In: 38

Answer 1

Another thing to keep in mind is there are two main ways to decompose things. Either with oxygen or without. When microbes use oxygen in decomposition they produce CO2 as a byproduct. When there is no oxygen microbes produce methane. Because landfills are generally densely packed there is no room for air to penetrate the piles of trash and that means we get methane as our byproduct.