Mars snack food in Waco, Texas has started to use methane gas emissions from a local landfill to power its plant. The project, part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program, will save the company $600,000 in annual energy costs by creating steam from two furnaces.

A Frito-Lay plant in Modesto, California was the first food manufacturer to start using renewable energy to power operations. The SunChips plant turned on half a field of solar concentrators on Earth Day, April 22.

The Methane Outreach Program has brought 445 landfill-to-energy projects into operation since 1994, with 21 operations in Texas alone. The Waste-to-Energy Planning Tool, currently a pilot program, which identifies and links waste producers and end users, will be expanded nationally.

Read the full story at  greenbiz.com

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