california: still more enlightened than your state

used condoms and half-eaten burgers will now be used to collect other used condoms and half-eaten burgers.

waste management, the aptly-named waste management company, is planning to convert some of the trash it collects into 13,000 gallons/day of natural gas to power the trucks that collect it. this is partially in response to the terminator's big green middle finger to the federal government, who is demanding that us crazy west-coasters reduce carbon emissions by much more than bush and his oil buddies are comfortable with (arnold has even converted his much-loved hummers to run on alternative energy sources. seriously).

this new fuel facility should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30,000 tons/year. i'm not sure how much that is compared to the total, but hey, it's a start.

from their press release:

Duane Woods, senior vice president, Western group of Waste Management, said, "This project has the potential to allow us to tap into a valuable source of clean energy while greatly reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. This will be the largest plant of its kind and we hope to break new ground by producing commercial quantities. Natural gas is already the cleanest burning fuel available for our collection trucks, and the opportunity to use recovered landfill gas offers enormous environmental benefits to the communities we serve."

let's hope this doesn't get too successful, or we might start invading poorly-maintained countries to take all their garbage.