The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

Local News

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
December 31, 2010

Landfill turns waste into green

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

The Dalton Whitfield Solid Waste Authority has been rewarded by one of North America’s largest environmental organizations for its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The authority has received 41,675 carbon offset points from the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) for cutting its greenhouse gas emissions since 2008 by trapping the methane gas produced by its facilities on Old Dixie Road. That is then sold to Stryon LLC, which uses it to run the boiler on its facility about two miles away from the landfill.

Executive Director Norman Barashick said the authority earns about $200,000 a year for the gas.

The landfill is one of just 12 in the state collecting methane gas and one of just seven registered with the CAR, which officials say puts it on the cutting edge of greenhouse gas reduction.

“We have to go through an involved process and have a third party come in and verify we are destroying the landfill gas and that we have done all the necessary paperwork for these credits,” Barashick said.

Authority Environmental Manager Dirk Verhoeff said the landfill earns one credit for each ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent it cuts.

Verhoeff said some companies purchase these credits to offset their own greenhouse emissions and burnish their “green” image. He said the value of the credits depends on a number of factors, including their age. Verhoeff said the credits the authority earned are probably worth about $1 to $1.50 on the market.

In addition, if Congress passes a national cap and trade emissions law, the landfill could use the credits to offset its own emissions.

“Currently, on the national scene, there is no cap and trade legislation requiring the purchase of carbon credits to offset emissions. There is in the state of California. Right now, everything is voluntary except for the state of California,” Verhoeff said.

He said the landfill will be credited for its reductions over the next 10 years.

“The only stipulation is that this must be voluntary and there are no state or federal regulations requiring us to install a gas collection system,” he said.

 

Text Only
Local News