For the first time in Fresno County, a privately held company is harnessing landfill gas and converting it into electricity. The landmark project supplies 100 percent of the power required to operate many of the Caglia family-owned facilities.

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Caglia Environmental facilities now operate using renewable energy generated by the gas from the closed Orange Avenue Landfill.

Gas from landfills is produced during the natural process of waste decomposition over time. When not harnessed for power, the filtered gas is burned off into the atmosphere. By capturing the gas before it is expelled, it can be used as a fuel, which is a sustainable alternative to an atmospheric release.

“Caglia Environmental is pleased to be a leader in clean energy development for the central San Joaquin Valley,” said Richard Caglia, president of corporate development and the Caglia family’s spokesman.

“Caglia Environmental is a trailblazer – the only private company of its kind in Fresno and Madera counties that uses 100 percent clean energy, produced from decomposing waste in a landfill,” Caglia added. “Gas converted to electricity is green energy that contributes to an environmentally healthier San Joaquin Valley.”

Caglia Environmental processes recyclables from residential, commercial and industrial sources, like plastics, paper, glass, and metals, while also recycling rock, construction debris, asphalt and food waste.

“The closed Orange Avenue landfill, as all landfills, is producing landfill gas, so it makes good economic and ecologic sense to generate clean energy,” said Caglia. “This project utilizes 70 percent of the gas produced by the landfill, reducing our facilities’ carbon footprint significantly. Any way you look at it, harnessing the energy from the landfill gas and putting it to good use was an easy decision.”

Through this green energy project and all of its operations, Caglia said the Caglia Environmental companies are committed to a “cleaner, healthier” San Joaquin Valley through advanced, state-of-the-art recycling and solid waste methods and technology.