DEKALB COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
DeKalb County leaders broke ground Thursday on a facility that will turn landfill gas into renewable fuel for its trash trucks.
The county has 306 sanitation trucks in its fleet. The trucks run on expensive diesel fuel. Soon, the trash they carry will produce the fuel that runs them.
County leaders have partnered with the Clean Cities Atlanta Petroleum Reduction program. Using a stimulus grant through U.S. Department of Energy, the county is building a facility that will take methane gas emitted from the Seminole Road Landfill and turn it into a fuel that is cleaner and less expensive than diesel fuel.
The grant will allow the county to then convert 70 vehicles so that they can run on the renewable gas. DeKalb County leaders estimate that the program will save the county 3-million dollars over the next eight years.
The county's goal is to eventually replace or adapt its entire fleet of 306 sanitation vehicles with natural gas vehicles over the same time period.
Eventually, the facility will be a money maker for the county.
"We're already generating revenue through electricity because we're selling some of the energy created through methane gas to Georgia Power right now," said DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis. "This takes it to the next level where we'll be able to convert it to fuel for vehicles."
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