ECONOMY

WASTE MANAGEMENT SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2014 56HARNESSING ENERGY AT THE LANDFILLUSING LANDFILL GAS TO CREATENATURAL GAS FUELWaste Management is also pioneeringefforts to convert landfill gas intonatural gas fuels. In October 2013, ourMilam Landfill in Fairmont City, Illinois,hosted a groundbreaking ceremony foran on-site renewable natural gas facility,which will begin operations in late2014. Milam is our third project usinglandfill gas to power natural gas vehicles,in addition to our Altamont Landfillin California and a landfill in Ohio.In collaboration with Ameren Illinois, autility focusing on electricity and gasdelivery, the new Milam facility willconvert landfill gas into pipeline-readynatural gas and inject it into Ameren’sgas distribution network. The facilitywill have the ability to process approximately3,500 standard cubic feet perminute of incoming landfill gas — asmuch gas as it takes to fuel about 400of Waste Management’s compressednatural gas (CNG) collection truckseach day and more than 10 percent ofthe gas used in our entire CNG fleet.In Illinois, we currently operate morethan 100 CNG trucks, displacingapproximately 1 million gallons of dieselfuel annually. By capturing and treatingthe landfill gas rather than burning it,the facility will also reduce emissions ofcarbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides andparticulate matter from the landfill byaround 60 percent.USING LANDFILL GAS TO CREATEOTHER FUELS AND PRODUCTSAs part of our efforts to turn landfillgas into valuable commodities, we haveinvested in the development of gas-toliquids(GTL) technology. The technologyprovides a method of converting landfillmethane to syngas (a mixture of mostlyhydrogen and carbon monoxide, withsmaller amounts of carbon dioxide andmethane) and then to new, high-valuematerials for the transportation andchemical industries. This GTL technologyoffers another option for the use oflandfill gas, especially for facilities thatcannot economically convert landfill gasto electricity.In 2014, Waste Management announceda joint venture with NRG Energy,Ventech Engineers International andVelocys to use smaller-scale GTL technologyto convert landfill gas, co-fedwith natural gas, into renewable fuelsand chemicals, such as cleaner-burningdiesel and multi-purpose industrialwax. We helped to pioneer the use ofthis kind of technology by building andoperating a demonstration unit at ourEast Oak Landfill, located just outsideof Oklahoma City, which has sinceaccumulated more than 10,000 hoursof successful operation and receiveda “Greenovation” award from the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency in May2014. As part of the joint venture, thefirst commercial facility is now underdevelopment and will also be locatedat the East Oak Landfill.