spartanburg, Milliken and Spartanburg County Announce Waste-to-Energy Partnership

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Milliken and Spartanburg County Announce Waste-to-Energy Partnership

Milliken & Company, long known for its environmental accomplishments and proven respect for the earth, is teaming up with Spartanburg County to harvest methane gas from the County Landfill in Wellford. The initiative was given the go-ahead, appropriately, on the eve of Earth Day 2008 in the Spartanburg County Council meeting Monday evening.

“Milliken is constantly looking for ways to lessen our impact on the earth’s limited resources,”stated Richard Dillard, director of public affairs for Milliken. “We approached the County with our proposal and they immediately realized this would be a benefit to the County, our citizens, Milliken, and ultimately the earth,” added Dillard.

Spartanburg County will be responsible for construction and operation of an enhanced methane extraction system at the Wellford Landfill and a gas pipeline from the landfill to Milliken’s Dewey plant near Inman, SC.

Milliken will modify the Dewey Chemical manufacturing facility to utilize landfill gas as an energy source. The landfill gas containing the fuel methane, a naturally generated by-product of landfill decomposition, will be purchased from the County.

“The project will produce financial benefits for both parties and, perhaps most importantly, it will produce significant environmental benefits and help us to reach our goals for improving local air quality,” stated County Administrator Glenn Breed.

Elaborating on details, Breed added, “Specifically, this project will have annual environmental benefits equal to or greater than any one of the following:

Removing the pollution emissions of 10,000 vehicles
Planting 14,000 acres of forest
Offsetting the use of 260 railroad cars of coal
Offsetting the use of 125,000 barrels of oil
Eliminating 52,000 tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide
Removing polution emissions from electricity generation for usage in 5000 homes

“The good news from a renewable energy standpoint is that the marketable supply of methane will extend for decades as the Wellford Landfill is fully utilized for years to come,” said Breed.

Milliken already has experience in using methane as an alternative energy. Milliken currently harvests more than 80% of the methane gas from a landfill in LaGrange, GA as a replacement for natural gas in its carpet manufacturing facility.

Spartanburg County and Milliken both are hopeful that this arrangement will benefit all Spartanburg County citizens and solidify the Dewey plant’s role as an industrial leader and environmental champion.

(Image provided by Milliken.)