The future in energy production is here. And some of the materials used to supply the energy may
surprise you! Companies have developed a way to turn plant wastes and other garbage into fuel. It
has been called one of the most promising technologies in alternative energy. And the process is
expected to become more common this year.
The American-based company Fiberight is taking the lead in this new form of energy production.
Truck loads of garbage are sent to Fiberight’s test plant in southern Virginia. Randy Garrett heads
the plant. He says old vegetables, cardboard boxes and other wastes become something much
more valuable through the work done at the factory.
“What we’re doing is taking a, that (what was) originally headed for a landfill, half of this material is
going to be processed for the conversion of biofuel such as ethanol.”
Ethanol makes up about 10 percent of America’s fuel supply. Nearly all of it comes from corn, the
food known as maize in some countries. Critics say this creates competition between food and fuel,
and raises food prices.
Environmentalists say farmers are using more land to plant corn crops. They also say farmers are
using more fertilizers and products for killing insects. They say this creates more pollution.
But Fiberight does not depend on corn to produce fuel. Randy Garrett says the garbage is loaded
into a huge pressure cooker.
“That converts your paper, your cardboard, banana peels, any organic fibers, it converts it to a pulp.
That pulp is what we’re after for our energy-fuel conversion.”
The material that comes out of the cooker is mostly cellulose, a substance that can be made into
sugar. The sugar can then be turned into ethanol.
In 2007, President George W. Bush signed a law that required increasing amounts of ethanol in U.S.
gasoline. One goal of the law was to support production of new kinds of fuel. The energy created
from plant material would produce fewer environmentally harmful gases than those from oil-based
fuels.