Dive Brief:

• The City Council of Glendale, CA unanimously agreed to conduct a study on the feasibility of building an anaerobic digester at the Scholl Canyon Landfill to process yard waste.
• Current options include using the gas to generate electricity at the city's Grayson Power Plant, selling the gas, or flaring it. The Grayson plant has been using methane gas from the landfill for power since the 1990s.
• Waste Resources Inc. and OWS, Inc. will conduct the study, which is expected to take six months.

Dive Insight:

The Scholl Canyon Landfill has been open since 1961 and at its height the 535-acre site was handling 1,400 tons of waste per day. At this rate the landfill was scheduled to run out of capacity by 2021, but reduction strategies have cut the amount it receives in half and the site is now expected to be open into the 2030s.

Some officials in Los Angeles County recently voiced their concerns over a potential expansion, but the city said it's not in a rush to do so. An environmental impact report on a potential expansion is currently in the works with the goal of completion by next spring. Proponents of the digester say that it could help extend the site's lifespan even further, especially if it eventually accepted food waste.

This project would also be a positive step toward helping the state reach its goal of 75% diversion by 2020. While some municipalities have struggled to make their yard waste programs work lately, states such as Massachusetts and Vermont have had success with banning the material from landfills.