Environmental Leader

Landfills, still often thought of as blight in our towns and cities, are today also being considered as helpers and money makers, WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh reports.

That city’s Waste Management operates five local landfills, all of which produce landfill gas to sell while improving regional air quality and reducing GHG emissions that cause global warming.

Nationwide, the company has 100 methane producing projects.

“We produce enough power to power the equivalent of one million homes. That’s the equivalent of 14 million barrels of oil that we save each year,” said Michael Rind, of Waste Management.

Renewable Solutions Group is also turning landfill blight into eco-friendly bucks.

“Our projects and a few other developers who do this actually reduce emissions at the landfill by 90 percent,” according to Renewable Solutions president David Wentworth. Additionally, companies that produce gas from landfills are eligible for government subsidies.

Experts say there’s enough garbage in this country’s landfills to triple the current production capacity.

A landfill methane project at the University of New Hampshire will provide 85 percent of the the school’s energy needs and cut its greenhouse gas emissions 57 percent below 1990 levels.

A Mars Snackfood project in Texas will save the company $600,000 a year in energy costs and reduce its annual GHG emissions by more than 10,000 metric tons.