‘Going green’ might be a relatively new phrase, but the Wood County Landfill has been doing it for years. Under the supervision of Ken Rieman, the solid waste district director, the landfill has sought new ways to make storing trash a lot less wasteful. For instance, instead of carelessly discarding the grass and leaves collected by the city of Bowling Green, the brush is composed and ground into mulch, which later serves as fertilizer for growing grass on the slopes of the landfill itself. The landfill’s service roads are made of old asphalt, rebar and the glass that the city no longer picks up at the curb. Even part of nearby Route 6 is made of thousands of recycled tires thanks to a 2006 grant awarded to the landfill. But Rieman isn’t done yet. His next project involves harnessing the gases emitted by the landfill and turning it into energy. As the garbage in the landfill decomposes, Rieman explained, gas that is half methane and half carbon dioxide is released. Methane is a commonly bemoaned greenhouse gas that many believe has contributed greatly to global warming trends. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, municipal landfills are the second greatest source of methane emissions, accounting for more than 20 percent of such emissions in the United States. ‘It’s not just disposal going on at the landfill,’ Rieman said. ‘It’s a recovery facility as well. We have to give people a proper place not only for disposal but also recycling.’ If captured, the methane – or LFG, landfill gas – could provide a source of clean energy for the city, either on-site at the landfill or through the power grid. Indeed, Bowling Green has been purchasing LFGs from other landfills for several years, Mayor John Quinn said. ‘We’re not producing the gas here in this community, but we still buy it from other landfills through AMP-Ohio,’ Quinn said. ‘The ability to do something like this locally would obviously be great. We’re certainly as supportive of these efforts as we’ve always been.’ As of late 2008, 469 municipal landfills were operational for capturing LFGs. The EPA reported that 19 of these were in Ohio. Capable landfills are outfitted with a series of wells and a kind of vacuum system among other equipment. Once collected, the gas can be used instead of fossil fuels in industrial operations. It can also be upgraded to be used in pipelines, or to generate electricity. All that stands in the way of making this gassy dream a green reality is money, Rieman said. In order to remove moisture and other contaminants from the LFGs, a special combustion engine is needed. Vents will also need to be installed to funnel the gas. ‘We’ve done the research,’ Rieman said. ‘We have the system and we’ve looked at all the studies. If we had the money we could get this done tomorrow.’ Rieman applied for a grant from the Department of Natural Resources and has already received $100,000 in grant funding from the Solid Waste District. Now he’s looking for funds to connect generating equipment to the specialized electrical lines already in place for the nearby wind turbines. The turbines make the prospect of methane-collection much more cost-effective. Special three-phase power lines are already in place and will not have to be installed. ‘We’ve always been ahead of the curve when it comes to green power,’ Quinn said. ‘We’re very much in favor of these things, and have made more of an effort than any other city I know of in Ohio.’ The EPA is providing aid in the form of the Landfill Methane Outreach Program, which helps with logistics. Two years ago, the LMOP’s Rachel Goldstein visited the Wood County Landfill as part of their decade-long effort to promote the use of LFGs. She assessed feasibility and benefits of the project and liked what she saw. ‘The benefits are many,’ Goldstein said two years later. ‘It’s a great step toward methane reduction. It generates electricity, fuels local industry, offsets the use of fossil fuels and creates jobs. And what may have looked promising two years ago looks much better now.’ For the moment, Rieman would be happy with one generator to get things moving. He’s ‘been working closely with the city,’ according to Mayor Quinn, and is eager to get started. ‘We’ve got a lot going on,’ Rieman said. ‘It’s never perfect, but we try. And in the end there are things there’s no use for. But we care as much as anyone could.’