America's Largest Landfills

Photo: David J. Slater | Workbook Stock | Getty Images With more than 250 million tons of trash created in the United States each year, the garbage business in America is beyond big. The $52-billion-a-year industry is dominated by companies like Waste Management and Republic Services. Gone are the days of the town dump. Today's landfills are technological marvels and have even become a reliable source for alternative energy as landfill gases are tapped and sold to businesses and municipalities.Here, we've compiled a list of the 10 largest landfills in the United States based on the amount of garbage they receive per day, known in industry nomenclature as TPD or tons per day. Click ahead to see where Americans are sending most of their heaping piles of garbage and how landfill companies are turning it into pure gold.By Constance PartenPosted 28, Sept 2010

Photo: Courtesy Image Location: WashingtonTons Per Day: 8,300Remaining Life: 51.5 yearsOperator: Republic ServicesLandfill Gas: Leachate and methane gas are collected throughout the landfill by a system of pipes. The leachate — liquid formed during the decomposition process — is re-circulated through the landfill prompting rapid decomposition of waste and accelerating methane production. Current methane production supports the generation of 10 megawatts of electrical power. The landfill may eventually generate 52 megawatts of electricity; enough power for roughly 30,000 homes.Source: Wunderlich Securities, Waste Management

Photo: Google Maps Location: ColoradoTons Per Day: 6,000-8,000Remaining Life: More than 20 yearsOperator: Waste ManagementLandfill Gas: Renewable energy projects at the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site create enough energy to power more than one million homes. The recovery of landfill gas, coupled with the power generated from the conversion of solid waste in our waste-to-energy plants, saves the equivalent of more than 13 million barrels of oil.Source: Wunderlich Securities, Waste Management

Location: OregonTons Per Day: 6,000-8,000Remaining Life: More than 20 yearsOperator: Waste ManagementLandfill Gas: Seattle residents recycle about half of their waste. The rest, about 400,000 tons a year, gets put on trains and shipped to Columbia Ridge, where it decomposes into methane gas. That gas is then burned to generate electricity. Seattle City Light is buying the entire output — enough to power more than 5,600 homes.Source: Wunderlich Securities, Waste Management

Photo: Google Maps Location: MichiganTons Per Day: 6,000-8,000Remaining Life: More than 20 yearsOperator: Waste ManagementLandfill Gas: Pine Tree Acres Landfill has a methane recovery and power generation facility on site and actively collects landfill gas from 184 wells, pulling 5,000 cubic feet per minute. Gas is then routed to a landfill gas-to-energy project that provides electricity to more than 6,500 homes.Source: Wunderlich Securities, Waste Management

Photo: Google Maps Location: VirginiaTons Per Day: 6,000-8,000Remaining Life: More than 20 yearsOperator: Waste ManagementLandfill Gas: At 23 miles long, the pipeline that connects Atlantic Waste Disposal to Honeywell International's plant in Hopewell, Va., is the longest landfill gas pipeline in the country.Source: Wunderlich Securities, RichmondCatalyst.com

Photo: Courtesy Image Location: CaliforniaTons Per Day: 6,000-8,000Remaining Life: More than 20 yearsOperator: Waste ManagementLandfill Gas: Since April 2004, the El Sobrante Landfill and Recycling Center has operated three landfill gas-to-energy generators that transform methane gas into electricity and power 3,800 homes each day.Source: Wunderlich Securities, Waste Management

Photo: Google Maps Location: TexasTons Per Day: 7,200Remaining Life: 37.9 yearsOperator: Republic ServicesLandfill Gas: Gas from Houston's McCarty Road landfill is carried through a six-mile pipeline to the Anheuser-Busch brewery to help generate steam energy for the brewery’s power plant. More than 55 percent of the brewery’s fuel demand is supplied by this new alternative fuel source.Source: Wunderlich Securities, Republic Services

Photo: Google Maps Location: CaliforniaTons Per Day: 8,400Remaining Life: 35.2 yearsOperator: Republic ServicesLandfill Gas:During the second quarter of 2010, 52 additional landfill gas extraction wells, including replacement wells and 12 new landfill gas wells, were installed at Sunshine to augment the site's gas control system.Source: Wunderlich Securities, Republic Services

Photos: Courtesy Images These two mega-landfills, both operated by Republic Services, share the title of country's largest landfill, with the most tons per day flip-flopping between the two virtually every month. Together, they haul in nearly 20 tons of garbage per day.Newton County Landfill (Left)Location: IndianaTons Per Day: 9,100Remaining Life: 250-plus yearsOperator: Republic ServicesLandfill Gas: Newton County produces 1,000 standard cubic feet per minute of landfill gas.Republic has been providing biogas from its landfill to Urban Forest Recyclers for use as an alternative fuel source to manufacture wholesale egg cartons. Once the gas is compressed at the landfill, it is carried through an 1,800-foot pipeline to the facility.Apex Regional Waste Management Center (Right)Location: NevadaTons Per Day: 9,200Remaining Life: 31.8 yearsOperator: Republic ServicesLandfill Gas: Apex Landfill's Renewable Energy Generating Facility is expected to be operating by late 2011.  CC Landfill Energy will use gas extracted from a series of wells at the landfill and use that gas in a state-of-the-art turbine-generator to make renewable electricity for NV Energy customers.Source: Wunderlich Securities, Republic Services

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