About 500 Waste Management trucks in San Francisco, California are rumbling down city streets using clean fuel made from a dirty source: garbage.
The fuel is derived from rotting refuse that San Francisco and Oakland residents and businesses have been discarding in the nearby landfill in Livermore. Since November, the methane gas created by decaying trash has been sucked into tubes and sent into an innovative facility that purifies and transforms it into liquefied natural gas.
In a state that has passed the most stringent greenhouse gas reduction goals in the United States, the climate change benefits of this plant are twofold — methane from the trash heap is captured before entering the environment and use of the fuel produces less carbon dioxide than conventional gasoline.
Although San Francisco would eventually like to reach zero waste by 2030, this is a great solution in the meantime to decrease the release harmful gases to the atmosphere. Be on the look out for more Waste Management facilities using this innovative technology in Los Angeles and Houston.
The fuel is derived from rotting refuse that San Francisco and Oakland residents and businesses have been discarding in the nearby landfill in Livermore. Since November, the methane gas created by decaying trash has been sucked into tubes and sent into an innovative facility that purifies and transforms it into liquefied natural gas.
In a state that has passed the most stringent greenhouse gas reduction goals in the United States, the climate change benefits of this plant are twofold — methane from the trash heap is captured before entering the environment and use of the fuel produces less carbon dioxide than conventional gasoline.
Although San Francisco would eventually like to reach zero waste by 2030, this is a great solution in the meantime to decrease the release harmful gases to the atmosphere. Be on the look out for more Waste Management facilities using this innovative technology in Los Angeles and Houston.
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