NEW SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - A local landfill company is one step closer to powering homes with clean energy as Waste Management is turning trash into electricity.
Imagine the trash you just threw away may soon be powering someone's home in Oberlin, Ohio which is 95 miles northwest of Youngstown.
Seem impossible? It's not.
The Mahoning County Waste Management Landfill cycles through 1,200 tons of garbage each day. As that waste decomposes it produces methane gas. That methane gas was once burned off, essentially wasted, but thanks to a new gas to electric plant that's now under construction, the gas will be used to power homes.
"In lieu of flaring off and destructuring the gas through the flare system, we actually pulled that gas in and created electricity that we're selling," explained Jay Maruska with Waste Management.
At the request of Oberlin for clean energy, they'll receive the 4.8 megawatts of electricity generated by the plant. That's enough to power 3,500 homes.
On Wednesday, Oberlin became one step closer to getting that power as the six engines responsible for converting the gas were carefully lowered into the plant.
"They're really at the heart of the plant," said Beth Schmucker with Waste Management. "These six engines will convert the methane gas here at the landfill into kilowatts of electricity which will ultimately be used to power people's homes."
Waste Management said if local cities are interested in the clean electricity it's possible to expand the plant in the future. Right now they power more than a million homes across the country; they hope to double that number by 2020.
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