A creative fix for our energy troubles

An editorial from the Green Bay Press-Gazette:

Brown County's proposal to convert landfill gas into usable energy is an example of what needs to be done to create a sustainable community.

"Sustainability" is a modern buzzword that essentially applies to habits and practices that can be maintained indefinitely, as opposed to activities that damage resources beyond repair. One way to do that is to find a use for materials that once were cast aside and forgotten.

We have been a throwaway society — content or even eager to use products that last a finite amount of time and then go to a landfill. Once in the landfill, garbage decomposes, much of it forming methane and other gases that are burned off to avoid a potentially explosive situation.

Now Brown County is working on a plan to convert that once-wasted gas into energy. The Ledgeview Town Board will be reviewing the proposal for possible approval this afternoon.

The $4 million project could generate as much as $7 million in revenue, and the $3 million profit can be used to maintain and protect county landfills for years to come, according to Chuck Larscheid, Brown County solid waste director.

The facility at the former east county landfill, 3750 Heritage Road, is expected to convert as much as 98 percent of the landfill gas into usable energy over about 11 years, Larscheid said.

Like the recent story of the Hickory Hills Golf Club lawn mowers that are fueled by used vegetable oil from a Culver's restaurant in Appleton, the Brown County proposal shows that even what we have generally considered waste can be recycled creatively and usefully.