ENERGY

Our landfills generated over 229,000 megawatt hours of renewable electricity last year. Working with our partners, this created enough power for over 30,000 homes.

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Energy

An innovative approach to managing today’s waste includes the realization that extending the life of the products we consume is a critical step in reducing waste. The concept of managing solid waste means giving our trash new purpose and a new life. It’s about turning waste into a resource.

Click the tabs below for more information about Casella's carbon footprint reduction efforts

Landfill Gas-to-Energy

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

We envision our landfills evolving into multi-use renewable energy parks, and we actively invest our time and resources to make this vision a reality. Building upon incentives we were able to secure through the Vermont SPEED program, Borrego Solar Systems installed a 12-acre solar photovoltaic array at our landfill in Coventry, VT. With its 8 Megawatt (MW) landfill gas-to-energy plant (owned by Washington Electric Cooperative) and this new 2.2 MW solar facility, the Coventry site is helping to diversify and localize Vermont's energy supply.

Our North Country landfill started using geothermal loops to recover landfill heat and warm their maintenance shop. Shutting down their oil burner saves them thousands of dollars per year, reduces their exposure to fluctuating fuel costs, and cuts their carbon footprint. The project is thought to be the first of its kind in North America. The site's engineering consultants, CMA, received an award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists for their involvement.

Compressed Natural Gas Collection Fleet

Clean, Quiet and Domestic

• Reduces smog-causing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 50%.
• Has a 25% reduction in vehicle noise.
• Runs on domestically produced fuel, reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

As a vehicle fuel, compressed natural gas burns cleaner and with a lower greenhouse gas impact as compared to diesel fuel. We have purchased three heavy-duty natural gas vehicles—a rear loader, an automated side loader, and a front loader—for our Burlington, Vermont fleet.

We were fortunate to receive grant funding to support these purchases through the federal Environmental Protection Agency under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act. We will install Vermont’s second natural gas fueling station at our Williston facility. We hope to duplicate this effort at five additional locations throughout New England and New York.