Waste Management of Pacific Northwest To Double Renewable Energy Production

By early spring of 2008, Waste Management of the Pacific Northwest will be producing 2 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from the Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon. Columbia Ridge provides disposal services for the municipalities throughout the Northwest, including the cities of Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

Together with other landfill gas-to-energy and waste-to-energy projects across North America, the company expects to produce enough energy to power the equivalent of 2 million homes, more than double the energy that it currently provides.

Also at Columbia Ridge Landfill, 67 windmills are generating enough renewable power for 30,000 homes as the result of a leasing agreement with Leaning Juniper Wind Power, LLC, a subsidiary of PPM Energy and permitting is underway to add another 40 windmills.

Steiner also announced three other initiatives that would triple recycling volumes, improve fleet fuel efficiency by 15% and reduce emissions by 15% and preserve and restore wildlife habitat across North America.

In the Pacific Northwest, the company also is continuing programs to:

• Expand its fleet of trucks fueled by low-emission biodiesel
• Test innovative new hybrid garbage and recycling collection trucks
• Work toward the commercialization of new technologies to convert recovered landfill gas into alternative transportation fuels such as liquefied natural gas and synthetic diesel
• Assist businesses in recycling materials such as food waste and construction and demolition waste, as well as special wastes such as fluorescent lamps and E-Waste.

Duane Woods, Senior VP for Waste Management's Western Group stated, "Our focus is on low carbon, low emission and high performance technologies that can meet our tough operational demands. Working closely with our municipal customers, we are confident we can increase recycling, improve operational efficiencies and capture more renewable energy from waste residuals."