The world produces so much garbage. The Environmental Protection Agency states that in the US, 220 million tons of garbage are produced each year. This is equal to 6-feet deep 82,000 football fields full of compacted garbage. One thing's for sure, trash is the one thing we'll never run out of.
So it's really great that people are putting this unlimited resource to good use. Aside from recycling, some companies are using garbage as an alternative power source. When trash decays, there's a bacteria that breaks down the trash and produces methane gas. This methane gas is harmful when released in the atmosphere, but when controlled, it could power the world.
Today, there are some cities that harness this gas for electricity. Landfills in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are already being harvested for methane. The Brookhaven Town landfill on Long Island has been supplying around 350,000 megawatt-hours of electricity into the power grid for the past 30 years. In Guatemala, they created a electric turbine that runs on methane gas extracted from the city dump. The same thing is happening on our country. Last year, a landfill gas power plant was opened in Laguna. It will utilize the methane from the San Pedro landfill to power gas engines. The new plant is expected to generate 4 megawatts of electricity and it will be for sale to the local grid.
Garbage are those things that are useless to us-- but if we put in a little thought, a little creativity and resourcefulness, all the trash in the world could possibly be a treasure.
Sources:
http://www.genewscenter.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/
http://wiki.answers.com/
http://www.usaid.gov/
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