“We just felt it was the right thing to do,” explains Commissioner of Public Works Vince Spagnoletti, of the decision to voluntarily capture and destroy methane emissions at the Bath Landfill Complex in Steuben County. “We didn’t we want to be spewing this junk into the air.”
 
The Bath Landfill Complex, nestled among the woods and farms of Steuben County, New York, isn’t like most other landfills of its kind; although it might have been, were it not for the efforts of Vince and others in the County. Designed to the State’s strict environmental standards, the landfill was originally built with a system to vent gases—methane, carbon monoxide, and others—into the atmosphere.
 
In 2005, the Steuben County legislature voluntarily capped these vents and installed an active gas collection system that would allow these dangerous gases to be collected and burned, substantially reducing their impact on global warming. This project is currently generating emissions reductions that can be purchased through the American Carbon Registry. To date, the project has generated 129,180 tons of carbon offsets.
 
Vince states that the decision to capture the gases was a practical one. The income from offsets is being used to reimburse the County for their initial investment in the gas collection system and for future expansion and operation of the system.
 
With the same pragmatic view, the County has expanded its recycling program, and has installed a state-of-the-art leachate collection system to stop harmful liquids from escaping the older portion of the landfill.