Casella and its partners are now producing roughly 25 megawatts per hour of clean energy at five of the company's landfills.  This clean energy is enough to power approximately 25,000 homes and results in substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Casella is recovering landfill gas so we can use it as an energy resource. When the organic material (things like banana peels and paper cups) in solid waste decomposes in a landfill, it naturally generates a mixture of gases known as landfill gas. Landfill gas is a mixture of approximately equal parts methane and carbon dioxide, along with other trace gases such as water vapor. To capture this gas before it can escape to the air, we use a series of wells connected to a powerful vacuum to actively pull it to our power generation plants. Here, we convert the methane gas to electricity.

Benefits of converting landfill gas to energy:

• Directly reduces emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas
• Further reduces greenhouse gas emissions by offsetting the use of fossil fuels
• Improves local air quality
• Generates clean domestic energy