Virginia Landfill to Convert Methane Gas into Renewable Natural Gas

A Virginia landfill is preparing to take its trash heap and make something productive from its emissions.

The Smith Gap Regional Landfill in the Roanoke Valley of Salem, Va. will be repurposing the methane gas it produces into renewable natural gas.

“It is truly one of those win-win-win situations that we’ve managed to get ourselves into,” said Jeremy Garrett, Roanoke Valley Resource Authority director of operations and technical services.

“We’ve been meeting all the environmental standards, but we did that through means of flare, so we were actually just burning off that excess gas. Now we’ll be capturing it, cleaning it, and actually it will be a commodity to be used elsewhere.”

While the project is set up to ultimately be productive, the changes will also decrease any odor from the landfill. And, as a bonus, the project will be done with zero net cost to the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority.

“This is one of those rare opportunities where not only do we get to do what’s right from a business sense, but it also directly aligns with what’s right from an environmental sense,” Garrett said.

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