In October 2009, the Coffee County Landfill voluntarily installed an active landfill gas collection system. Thirty vertical wells were installed into existing MSW cells. These wells extract landfill gas, which is piped to a main collection header and its flare. Blowers, which create a vacuum, pull the landfill gas from the vertical wells to the collection header and to the flare.
Landfill Gas is mainly comprised of methane gas, but also includes CO2, O2, and Balanced Gas. By burning the landfill gas, Coffee County is able to turn this harmful greenhouse gas (CH4) into a 99.9% clean emission.
Since the initial installation of the thirty vertical wells, there have been numerous phases to install additional wells. Currently, there are 48 vertical wells at the Coffee County Landfill. These wells have depths that range from 12 feet to 88 feet.