Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Looking for Energy in the Trash

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

GUATEMALA CITY -, Aug 8 2005 (IPS) - Municipal authorities in the Guatemalan capital began tests to calculate the amount of gas emanating from the city's landfill, with hopes of using it as an energy source for nearby residents. “The pilot plan has begun and will last three months, a period in which we will determine the quantity and quality of the gas emitted by the waste,” Enrique Montano, spokesman for the municipal government, told Tierramérica.

“If it proves usable, the gas will be turned into electricity, which would then benefit the neighbors living near the landfill,” he added.

Monitoring of the landfill, which began Jul. 27, has the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A 2001 study by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources says the capital's dump at the time was taking in 1,500 tons of garbage a day, and that the site had the capacity to remain open 10 more years.