Growing biofuel on landfill sites

Taking the “yuck” factor into consideration, the top of an old landfill site might not be where you would want to put a vegetable or fruit farm.

But there are possibilities for using the sites to grow biofuels, according to the Region of Niagara, which controls a number of landfill site properties.

Possible crops include red clover, timothy hay and bromegrass.

Niagara-based Walker Industries, which operates integrated waste management systems, has been looking at this concept, along with the University of Guelph. There are as many as 3,700 disused landfill sites in this province and many thousands of acres of otherwise waste land. BF

Better Farming - February 2010