Mining the landfills

I've been following Sierra Energy's waste-to-energy tech for the past year; it's pretty interesting.

Mike Hart presented on it here in Wellington late last year; his presentation is below.

 

I liked this bit from his most recent newsletter (I find a subscription link here), on waste reduction:

Thirdly, if and when we reach the point where communities are using less and do not produce enough waste to power a FastOx gasifier, the gasifier can then be used to mine landfills. Landfills emit methane for 100 years and many of the landfills (open and closed) are not properly consented- they continue to leach into the ground and pollute the ground water year after year. Additionally, as the return on investment is commonly in just a few years, there is no economic loss once a community stops creating waste.

A couple of years ago, I'd suggested that we should view well-managed landfills as storage sites for future recycling. The future is coming.