Location
Banefo, Urban Community of Bafoussam, West Region, Cameroon

Project goal
The project aims to construct the first landfill gas (LFG) capturing and energy generation plant at the Banefo landfill site in the Bafoussam municipality. This initiative focuses on combating climate & environmental change, promoting sustainable development, and reducing air pollution which has negative health impacts on the nearby population. By creating employment opportunities and improving the landfill management, the project will also reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by destroying methane that would otherwise be released in the atmosphere. By turning renewable landfill gas into power, the project will prevent CO2 from entering the atmosphere. 

By creating employment opportunities and improving the landfill management, the project will reduce the climate change impact of the landfilling operation and develop a municipal solid waste management system.

Project description
The Banefo Landfill Gas Capture & Energy Utilization Project is a large-scale & high-quality waste management and renewable energy project in the Bafoussam municipality, located in Cameroon’s West Region. The objective of the project is to mitigate methane emissions from anaerobic waste degradation by capturing and utilizing landfill gas (LFG) for renewable energy generation. The project activity is the implementation of landfill gas (LFG) capture and energy utilization system, used to collect landfill gas from waste disposal areas for flaring at its primary stage and with further utilization for the purpose of renewable energy generation at the second project phase.

In the project area, organic waste is disposed of in unmanaged landfill and methane is generated from anaerobic decomposition and emitted to the atmosphere. The common practice for municipal solid waste disposal is landfilling without LFG recovery. Priority is given to raise waste collection rate, in order to improve urban health conditions. At the local level, competences of Urban Communities concerning the environment include the collection and treatment of municipal waste and the reduction of pollution. The social, environmental and economic conditions in the project area present several challenges. Increased GHG emissions and deteriorating livelihoods & negative health impacts.

This project aims to address these challenges by improving the landfill management and installing a landfill gas extraction system with an enclosed flare combustion station, using the most up-to-date technology.  Besides, the project implementation will reinforce the safety of the landfill, especially by removing explosion risks due to methane pockets. It will also induce improvements of the landfill management practices, which will result in a reduction of leachate infiltration in the ground.

SDGs