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A laboratory procedure is described for measuring methane potentials of organic solid waste. Triplicate reactors with 10 grams of volatile solids were incubated at 55 °C with 400 ml of inoculum from a thermophilic biogas plant and the methane production was followed over a 50-day period by regular measurements of methane on a gas chromatograph. The procedure involves blanks as well as cellulose controls. Methane potentials have been measured for source-separated organic household waste and for individual waste materials. The procedure has been evaluated regarding practicality, workload, detection limit, repeatability and reproducibility as well as quality control procedures. For the source-separated organic household waste a methane potential of 495 ml CH₄/g VS was found. For fat and oil a lag-phase of several days was seen. The protein sample was clearly inhibited and the maximal methane …