Methane gas is produced through the decomposition of discarded waste in landfills. To keep this noxious gas from entering the atmosphere the normal practice was to direct it to a chimney-like structure and burn it off. But the Pestonis of Napa Valley had other plans.
鈥淢y father (Bob Pestoni) wanted to harness the fuel and turn the landfill into an alternative energy producer,鈥� said Christy Pestoni Abreu, director of community outreach for the Clover Flat Resource Recovery Park (CFRRP).
鈥淭o make it work, the money for this project came out of his own pocket, but he had a dream, and today we are witnessing the fruits of that effort. Our power-generating facility is transforming gas that we used to just burn off, but now we鈥檙e converting it into a useful resource for the community.鈥�
Because of the structure of the local grid, Calistoga is the recipient of the power. 鈥淭he City of Calistoga is thrilled to actively support energy conservation efforts like those of the Clover Flat Resource Recovery Park,鈥� said Calistoga Mayor Chris Canning.
He also serves on the board of the Upper Valley Waste Management Agency. 鈥淟earning to live in a more sustainable manner is not only good for Calistoga but also good for the Napa Valley community and beyond.鈥�
A History of Conservation
Like his father and grandfather before him, Bob Pestoni would eventually come back to making wine, opening Rutherford Grove Winery in 1994. Before then, however, he and his brother Marvin departed from their family鈥檚 farming and winemaking heritage and instead, in 1963, created Upper Valley Disposal Service, becoming the refuse hauler for the upper Napa Valley.
Three years later they took over the operations at Clover Flat Landfill, always with an eye toward conservation. By the early 鈥�70s the Pestonis had become pioneers of recycling winery byproducts such as glass, cardboard and wood pallets, separating the material for recycling. They also had been composting for years. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been composting ever since I can remember,鈥� Christy said.
鈥淎t our Whitehall Lane upper valley disposal and recycling center, grape pomace (skins, seeds and stems) composting used a bucket loader in the 1970s. In the 1980s we used the windrow method using a piece of equipment called a scarab, resembling an Egyptian beetle. By the mid-1990s to today we used a method call ASP, Aerated Static Pile. We force air on timed aerators that blow air into the large piles of decomposing grape compost and green organic material. Our permit allows us to compost up to 37,000 tons of organics.鈥�
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