What gases are released by a pile of garbage?

A pile of garbage contains numerous decaying substances such as diapers, rotting fish, meat and vegetables, various expired products and more. Bacteria present in the air, and in the garbage, degrade the garbage and release different gases such as ammonia, carbon dioxide and methane. read more

An estimated 40 to 50 percent of the garbage is made up of carbon by mass, which means that carbon dioxide is the major gas emitted by trash burning. Those emissions are dwarfed by others sources on the global scale, such as cars and power plants, amounting to just 5 percent of total global carbon dioxide emissions. read more