GENEVA, Ohio – It may not be turning trash into treasure, but a local landfill will soon be turning trash into energy.
Waste Management is building a state-of-the-art energy facility at its existing site in Geneva.
The gas-to-electric energy plant will be able to convert everyday trash into power, said Todd Brady, gas operations manager for Waste Management.
“It’s amazing that we’re actually able to take household trash, household solid waste that’s been generated by residents in this area, mostly from Ashtabula County and being able to convert that into an energy source that has an end use,” Brady said. “Rather than flaring the gas off, we use that for electric power.”
Brady said the plant will generate 5.6 megawatts of power – that’s enough energy to power anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 homes.
Waste Management owns and operates about 130 renewable energy plants in the United States. A second one is also being built in Mahoning County. Both are expected to be complete by the end of the year.
“One of our sustainability goals is to be able to power two million homes with power from renewable energy from our landfills,” Brady said. “We currently have enough plants in place to do one million homes. Our goal is to have that in place by 2020.”