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A Market for Methane Is Heating Up in Connecticut

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While Connecticut no longer landfills its garbage, the state is trying to capitalize on its food waste.

In an ambitious goal, the EPA said it would like to reduce the amount of food tossed into trash bins 50 percent by 2030. It's looking like one big byproduct of that goal will be a growing market for methane in Connecticut. 

The EPA said that reaching its goal will require partnerships with the private sector and local and state governments.

Jon Powell said it also requires a new way of thinking about trash, especially a harmful greenhouse gas released as our food breaks down: methane.

"A lot of that gas that's being produced from the highly decomposable materials is probably not being captured right now," said Powell, who studies environmental engineering at Yale University. "As we point to what can we do going forward, developing engineering solutions to try to capture gas much earlier in a landfill's lifetime, or much earlier after waste gets placed in a landfill will help us achieve those emission reductions."

While Connecticut no longer landfills its garbage, the state is trying to capitalize on its food waste through its organics recycling program. It's a phased-in approach. If you're a commercial producer of a certain amount of food trash, and you're within 20 miles of an organic recycling outpost, the new law says you have to recycle your food waste.

That set off an arms race of sorts among waste handlers, who are vying to set up anaerobic digesters -- think of them as giant enclosed "cow stomachs" -- all over the state. These will take in food waste, compost it, and capture the methane gas released for sale in the energy market.

Thus far, a digestion facility in Bridgeport seems to be the farthest along in the permitting process.

But Chris Nelson, a supervising environmental analyst at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said there are more projects in the works.

"We have the two in Southington," Nelson said. "We've just started processing a permit application for another anaerobic digestion facility in North Haven, and we understand that there's another one that's likely to proceed in Milford."

Nelson said Bridgeport's digester is likely to to open in late 2016 or early 2017, with the two Southington facilities to follow shortly thereafter.

Patrick Skahill is a reporter and digital editor at Connecticut Public. Prior to becoming a reporter, he was the founding producer of Connecticut Public Radio's The Colin McEnroe Show, which began in 2009. Patrick's reporting has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, Here & Now, and All Things Considered. He has also reported for the Marketplace Morning Report. He can be reached at pskahill@ctpublic.org.

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