How to Convert Garbage Into Alternative Energy

If you've ever been in a stadium after the game is over, you've got a pretty good indication of just how much trash people produce in just a few hours. Wouldn't it be nice if those mountains of garbage could not only be eliminated, but turned into energy? Unfortunately, only organically derived materials --- food, paper, grass clippings and such --- can be converted to energy. Plastic will physically degrade, but the plastic molecules hang around for longer than you live.

Piping and valves
Trash
Turbine

Instructions

- 1
  Dig a hole sufficient enough to bury a significant amount of trash. The system will not return the investment if the amount of trash is not large enough to biodegrade for several years. The specifics depend on your particular configuration and costs.
- 2
  Insert vertical lengths of plastic perforated pipe into the hole, and connect those pipes to a central collection pipe. The perforated pipe will collect methane --- a gas produced as the end stage of digestion by a series of bacteria.
- 3
  Fill the hole with trash. The higher the organic content, the greater the amount of methane that will be produced.
- 4
  Cap the hole with well-tamped dirt. The dirt prevents the methane from bypassing your collection system and escaping into the air.
- 5
  Connect the collection pipe to the input of a methane-compatible turbine.

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