We believe in developing renewable, sustainable energy sources. That's why we're so excited about generating electricity from the trash that comes to Camino.

Across the United States, almost one third of the solid waste going into municipal landfills is organic material, including

1) food scraps and plate scrapings from restaurants, school cafeterias, and homes

2) yard waste including tree trimmings, grass clippings, weeds, dry leaves, and wood chips

3) wood waste such as urban wood waste, woody debris from suburban land clearing, and rural forestry residuals

These organics decompose in the landfill, thanks to naturally occurring bacteria. The bacteria give off methane gas, which is captured through a sophisticated system of gas wells and piping structures within the landfill that suction off and transport the methane gas to our power plant.

The power plant includes two special landfill gas generators that use the methane to produce electricity, which is purchased by our local power company, added to the power on the grid and used by homes and businesses in our area.

Each generator produces enough energy (1.5 MegaWatts) to power approximately 500 homes and 10 small businesses, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This project adds Camino Real Landfill to the elite list of 375 landfills around the nation with on-site power generating facilities.

Our partners in this project are:

- Four Peaks Energy of Santa Fe, New Mexico

- Energy Options, Inc., of Albuquerque, New Mexico

- Waste Education and Research Consortium (WERC) headquartered at New Mexico State University

- El Paso Electric Company