Landfill gas power project fires up in northern Indiana

ARGOS, Ind. - A waste services company is now generating enough power from the gases belched up by a northern Indiana landfill to light more than 3,200 homes.

Republic Services regional President Mark Watson said Wednesday the company's new six-megawatt project at County Line Landfill has begun generating electricity at the project site about 30 miles south of South Bend.

Like other landfills, the landfill near the Marshall County town of Argos produces methane and carbon dioxide as bacteria breaks down the waste that's hauled there from municipalities. Those gases are captured by Republic Services and then burned in four engines to generate electricity that's then fed into the region's electrical grid.

Republic Services now operates 73 landfill gas-to-energy projects nationwide that generate enough electricity to power or heat about 400,000 households.