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About 200,000 cubic yards of wood waste is buried in the landfill each year (1999). This is about the same as piling wood 114 feet high on a football field.
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What is the Wood Diversion Project?In an effort to extend the life of the current landfill, Larimer County is exploring a number of possible ways to reduce the volume of waste buried in the landfill--currently about 800 tons per day.Many factors are considered when researching this issue, including cost-benefit, environmental factors such as air quality, and community standards. In many communities throughout the U.S., one or two particular types of waste material are sorted out at the landfill and burned in a high-temperature furnace or kiln to produce energy. The energy from burning this waste is used to run electric generators, heat buildings, or produce industrial products. Larimer County is researching this type of program as a way to save space in the current landfill and recycle some of our wood waste. At the Larimer County Landfill, construction material and yard waste amount to 20-25% of the total waste in the landfill, or about 200,000 cubic yards per year (1999 figures). We are exploring cost-effective ways of keeping this type of waste from being buried at the landfill. One option being researched is burning this wood as fuel for a large, industrial kiln at the Holnam, Inc. facility north of LaPorte. |
A few loads of wood waste separated from the normal fill.