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“Outstanding service. They were extremely careful delivering the extra large container into our driveway.” -- A. L. GARNER
A landfill in Livingston County operated by Republic Services. (Alex Ruppenthal / Chicago Tonight)You know how the saying goes: One man’s trash is another man’s … fuel?Instead of hauling food and yard waste to landfills, where it produces millions of tons of methane emissions each year, organic waste could be used to power cars, heat homes and potentially reduce the need for new landfills in the U.S., according to a new study led by Uisung Lee of Argonne National Laboratory.In a paper published this month in the Journal of Cleaner Production, Lee and other scientists assessed the environmental benefits of various waste-to-energy production methods. The researchers found that waste from yard trimmings, paper, wood and food could produce significant amounts of renewable natural gas and liquid fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, while also avoiding emissions of methane and other harmful pollutants.Uisung Lee (Courtesy Argonne National Laboratory) “Our study shows that using what would otherwise become... (Chicago Tonight | WTTW)
East Fillmore Avenue and South Livingston Avenue, said Kyle Brasser, a developer with the company. Current plans call for a restaurant and 264 apartments, 24 percent of which will be classified as affordable units. The remainder will be luxury units.Brasser said Tuesday that construction will begin before 2017 is out, with completion in spring 2019.The Sherman project was one of 13 that received money from the Metropolitan Council in this round of grants, according to a news release. The council approved the $4 million package of grants at its July 26 meeting. Most of the money will go to cleaning up polluted sites to prepare them for development. Two small grants for transit-oriented development were included as well.The grants ranged from $43,900, which went to a project on Minneapolis’ Lake Calhoun, to $750,000, which went to an effort to turn the former St. Paul Pioneer Press building into workforce housing.In all, the $4 million will result in the remediation of 54 acres of contaminated land, the creation or retention of about 1,100 jobs, and 600 affordable housing units, said Beth Reetz, director of community development at the Metropolitan Council. Together, the projects receiving grants will draw more than $500 million in private investment, she added.Here’s the complete list of grant recipients, in order of dollar amount:A project to renovate the former Pioneer Press building at 345 Cedar St. in St. Paul will get $750,000 for asbestos and lead-based paint abatement. As of April, St. Paul-based Real Estate Equities was planning to buy the building and redevelop it into 143 units of workforce housing. The deal will close in August, company leaders said Tuesday.United Properties’ Nordic House project on the 700 block of Washington Avenue North in Minneapoli... (Finance and Commerce)
PONTIAC, Ill. – About 5,000 tons of trash from Chicago and the surrounding area is dumped every day at a landfill in Livingston County, but hardly any of it goes to waste.Like many active landfills, the one operated by Republic Services in Pontiac has found a way to take our trash and convert it into energy – lots of energy. At any given time, Republic’s landfill gas power plant generates enough energy to sustain 10,000 homes.The operation is one of more than 600 projects launched nationwide under the Environmental Protection Agency's Landfill Methane Outreach Program, which works with waste companies to reduce or avoid methane emissions from landfills. Since the program began 20 years ago, participating landfills have avoided releasing a total of 345 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to the EPA. “Modern landfills are critical to economic development and responsible environmental stewardship,” said Brian Holcomb, general manager of Republic’s Chicago operations, during a tour of the landfill in June. “Most people don’t understand them [and think] it’s just waste. But it’s what you do w... (Chicago Tonight | WTTW)
