The problems of waste management and global warming are closely interrelated though. First and foremost the more stuff goes into landfills, the more raw materi

The problems of waste management and global warming are closely interrelated though. First and foremost the more stuff goes into landfills, the more raw materials have to be mined and processed to replace it, which consumes a lot of energy and by that increases the greenhouse gases footprint. The main point of recycling is to avoid the greenhouse gases emissions that are associated with producing products from raw materials. A secondary problem with landfills is, especially if large amounts of compostable material go into them, that the biological degradation there happens mostly anaerobic, which in turn means it produces lots and lots of methane, which is a far more potent greenhouse gas. In a properly setup composting facility, be it small scale in your backyard, or industrial large scale the degradation happens aerobic, so that no methane is produced.