MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The first of its kind waste-to-fuel processing plant in the nation is set to take in its first official batch of trash this Friday, and it’s happening in Martinsburg.
Entsorga West Virginia is touted as the first plant in the nation to recover bio-mass, plastics and other carbon-based materials from the mixed municipal solid waste stream and convert them into an alternative fuel source.
This Friday will mark the first commercial loads coming into the Grapevine Road plant. Later, area residents and smaller trash haulers will be able to bring their loads, too:
“The first loads of mixed garbage will be brought into the Entsorga plant from Apple Valley Waste,” said Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority Chairman Clint Hogbin on Friday’s Panhandle Live.
In other recycling news, Hogbin is touting a successful roadside pickup program in just its first eight or nine months:
“325 miles of roads have been cleaned,” said Hogbin. “A little bit over 1,800 bags of trash have been picked up. That doesn’t count the things that are too big for bags like tires. So we’re looking at 70,000 pounds of roadside litter have been picked up.”
The roadside pickup is part of the county’s community service program.
Entsorga is a partnership between Apple Valley Waste LLC., Entsorga USA., and BioHiTech Global. The process pulls out metals and glass so they can be recycled separately. The fuel can then be used by big plants like cement plants and steel mills or for the production of renewable energy.
More information on Entsorga can be found here.
Story by WEPM’s Marsha Chwalik