GROVE CITY, Ohio — Trash is being turned into gas near a landfill outside Columbus, where officials hope the cheap fuel — made from the methane that’s naturally given off by rotting garbage — will eventually be used in local buses and other government vehicles.
Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio officials said the landfill’s new gas-producing facility is capable of processing 300,000 gallons. That’s enough to possibly fuel Franklin County’s entire fleet of 400 vehicles, said Charlotte Ashcraft, director of fleet management for the county.
But it’s just a fraction of how much fuel the landfill could produce, considering how much methane is given off by the dump’s waste, according to the authority director Ron Mills.
About 92 percent of the landfill’s methane is allowed to escape through two large venting stacks, he said. A California company, FirmGreen Fuels, plans to invest $14 million to boost capacity even further, officials said. The landfill could produce 10 times more fuel at a cost of about $2 a gallon, only a little cheaper than the $2.50 a gallon for regular gas that many consumers are paying today.
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