Waste Management Breaks Ground on Gas-to-Electricity Project at Ohio Landfill

Waste Management Inc., (WMI) Houston, has broken ground on a gas-to-electricity facility at its Mahoning landfill in New Springfield, Ohio. The official groundbreaking was held the first week of May, 2012.

The company expects the construction facility to be complete by the end of 2012. When the system is operational, the company says that the gas-to-electricity facility will generate around 4.8 megawatts of electricity per year. Currently, the company creates enough energy to power 1.1 million homes, and it is looking to double that amount to two million megawatts by 2020.

Methane gas, produced in the 240-acre landfill, will be channeled into engines that are used to create electricity. The electricity generated at Waste Management Mahoning Landfill will go into the electrical power grid. The electricity produced through the system will be sold back to the electrical grid. The company has a partnership arrangement with the City of Oberlin, Ohio, on the electricity.

"Creating this facility ensures that the waste we generate will be converted into a beneficial use," says Jerry Ross, senior district manager of WMI’s Mahoning landfill. "By investing in landfill-gas-to-energy, we are developing renewable 'green' energy to power homes."

Waste Management owns or operates more than 130 landfill gas-to-energy facilities in North America.