There’s more to garbage than lying around in a landfill.

There’s gas, and that’s something that could put the Columbia Shuswap Regional District in partnership with Terasen Gas – and be a first in Canada, and perhaps even in North America.

Waste management co-ordinator Darcy Mooney advised board members that CSRD, with the help of Sperling Hansen Associates, submitted an expression of interest to upgrade raw landfill gas from the Salmon Arm landfill to pipeline-quality natural gas known as bio-methane.

Mooney said the regional district had responded to a request by Terasen, who wishes to find potential sources of pipeline-quality natural gas to add to their distribution system.

Investigations by Sperling Hansen revealed a section of the landfill scheduled for closure in 2010 has the potential to produce enough bio-methane to heat and provide hot-water needs to more than 300 homes.

“The proposed project would involve the installation of a small facility to recover raw landfill gas, upgrade it and inject the pipeline-quality bio-methane into the local pressure gas line near the landfill property,” noted Moody in a memo to the board.

Apparently encouraged by the proposal, Terasen Gas presented the regional district with a proposal to explore development of the project.

The next steps include negotiating project responsibilities and regulatory approval, which could lead to detailed engineering design in 2009 and plant construction as early as spring 2010.

“If successful, this project would be the first of its kind in British Columbia and become a model for future adoption in this province in our joint efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce global climate change,” wrote Mooney.

Salmon Arm director Kevin Flynn commended Mooney for his work on the project.

“He’s taken a leadership role in working toward a cost-effective solution that is environmentally friendly,” said Flynn.

If successful, the project could earn CSRD as much as $25,000 per year.

But works manager Doug Dymond says the project goes way beyond the money it might earn.

“The positive on it right now is that methane is escaping into the environment,” he says, noting methane is a lethal gas and is 22 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide.

“We’re taking care of an environmental problem and converting it into green energy, and at the end of the line there may be some financial rewards for the CSRD.”

There may also be enough bio-methane remaining to be available to power landfill equipment and recycling trucks.