> This is because the waste is sealed in massive containers and without oxygen they will not decompose. Anaerobic breakdown is still a thing. But you get more

> This is because the waste is sealed in massive containers and without oxygen they will not decompose. Anaerobic breakdown is still a thing. But you get more methane rather than CO2. Landfills will generally tap "wells" to flare it off. If there's enough, they'll collect it an burn it in containerized generators for electricity and/or heat. It's a really dirty gas, but it can be "refined" and injected into municipal natural gas networks, but imo, that's greenwashing and not worth the effort. Some municipal compost systems do have sealed vats for their compost processing, which better captures all the methane produced. But as cities divert more paper/paperboard/compost from the waste stream into the recycling/compost stream, the landfill gas doesn't produce as much methane. The capture systems do best in somewhat old landfills before these diversion programs ramped up.