Dive Brief:

• A landfill in Dane County, WI is looking to generate zero emissions and is experimenting with an innovative technology to help achieve this goal.
• The county plans to use carbon dioxide captured from landfill waste which will then be sold in the form of compressed gas or dry ice to local brewers who will use the CO2 to carbonate beer.
• County Executive Joe Parisi placed a request for almost $400,000 in his 2015 budget proposal to test out a patented technology possibly capable of capturing 100% of the greenhouse gas generated at the 220-acre solid waste plant.

Dive Insight:

This isn’t the only exciting project proposed at the landfill. The county also plans to study a unique method of capping waste by using solar power-generating membranes, rather than the typical polyethylene material.

If approval is granted, the county has another initiative in the works: the construction of a $3.6 million recycling facility to handle construction and demolition (C&D) waste, a stream that accounts for 30% of the waste disposed of at the landfill every year.