Selectmen hear proposal for landfill gasification
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
Waste Options Nantucket's president Whitney Hall last Wednesday told the selectmen that gasification technology at the landfill is a potential solution to space and disposal limitations as the island deals with a growing population's trash.

Citing the July 2006 environmental ban that prevents construction and demolition waste from going into state landfills, and which is costing the town nearly $2 million annually to ship off island, Hall said gasification is looked on favorably by the Department of Environmental Protection as a viable alternative.

A gasification plant would essentially disintegrate materials with high heat. The capital cost to build such a plant for the island is estimated at between $10 million and $12 million, said Hall, and would be accompanied by an approximate $1.5 million annual operating cost. Revenue would be generated through sales of electricity produced through the gasification process and could amount to $1 million a year, along with the benefit of earning $750,000 in renewable energy credits.

Although some initial expenses are high, in the long term gasification would offset the current annual costs of more than $2 million to ship away roughly 13,000 tons of construction waste plus tires, mattresses and furniture and approximately $350,000 spent annually for power to run the landfill. Hall also stressed that using this technology would reduce island and ferry truck traffic, minimize future landfill requirements and avoid future landfill construction costs.

While some pre-processing would be required, gasification could handle non-recyclable, non-compostible items, including construction waste, tires, bulky furniture and mattresses, and the plastic residuals left after the composting process that presently are baled and filling the lined landfill cell. Hall also explained that a gasification plant would need regulatory permits from the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency and solid waste and air permits.

Hall has already contacted several companies that may prove to have enough experience in thermal conversion to be considered for the island's project, but is waiting for a decision from the town before investigating further. He explained that the town, Waste Options or a third party could own and operate the plant. The selectmen plan to have a workshop meeting to continue discussion of this technology.

"This is an excellent presentation," Selectmen chairman Whitey Willauer told Hall. "The question is what business proposal would be put together for this

operation? It's one of the best briefings I've seen." I