US begins recycling biomass for gas

Sal, I don't know if this is on the same idea or not (just woke from a nap).
On Dirty Jobs he visited a dairy farm that got all it's power from the cow manure. The guy had a big vat where he collected the methane gas from the manure compost. he powered his whole farm on the gas. After the manure composted he dried it and made landscape plant pots out of it. With the pots you planted them with the plants and as they broke down they fertilized the plants.

It's kinda the same idea, Thom - but this is a large concern that will use food waste - and probably landscaping waste to make the gas. The facility will be able to move 150,000 tons a year. In some countries using cow dung for fuel instead of furtilizer has hurt the soil nutrient content and it's not a real good idea for them to do that - developing countries need that fertilizer. Nitrogen/phosphates has actually caused the decline in land ability to produce - the dung could enrich depleted soils, but those people can't afford fuel so use it for that instead.

Food waste isn't good for much other than compost - for which it is excellent. In the US alone we're tossing around 25.5 million tons of food waste into landfills a year. There are 11 facilities throughout the states that are collecting it and sorting it, keeping it out of landfills and composting it instead - the compost is used for farmers, and that is a very high quality compost that keeps them compliant with quality laws. It takes hella sorting. The lower quality composts are used by Forest and Recreation departments - ecology restoration organizations, construction, etc. for soil conservation and erosion prevention.

This is the first plant to ever in the us tackle fuel manufacture from organic waste. The fuel will power the other composting facility as well as the other recycling plant that does glass, metal, etc. It's a great thing for the environment and it also will cut down on the need for fossil fuels if the practice becomes wide enough -- all while helping to solve the problem of growing masses of landfills.