For one Utah County company, though, everybody's garbage may become a treasure. Utah Valley Energy is proposing to build a renewable-energy plant to produce electricity from solid waste.

Company founder Grov Beckham says communities across the nation - Utah included - are using methane from solid waste to generate power. Now his company wants to cash in on the tons of trash northern Utah County cities haul to the dump.

"The need to become more energy-wise and energy independent as a nation is paramount," Beckham said. "Other communities are reaping the benefits. We should, too."

The plant Beckham is proposing would convert waste into power through a gasification process that transforms the mass of garbage into a "bio gas." The gas would then be funneled through gas-turbine generators to create energy - a process, company officials add, the Environmental Protection Agency touts as the safest and most efficient way to convert biomass into usable energy.

With the amount of waste north Utah County cities dump into landfills, Utah Valley Energy estimates it can generate $15 million of usable power per year.

"This is more than just a pipe dream, people are doing this," said Beckham, who has been working on the project for 20 years. "I would say it is very realistic that we would have the plant up and running in two years."

First, though, the company has to settle on a site. One possible location is on about 15 acres at the Geneva Steel grounds. Once the plant is completed, the gasification process would consume 1,195 tons of solid waste per day, yielding 50 megawatts of electric power - enough to power 25,000 homes during peak hours while possibly lowering power costs, company leaders said.

Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn, for one, is interested in the project and its possible benefits. So is Rodger Harper, district manager for the North Pointe Solid Waste Special Service District that services northern Utah County.

"Anything you can do with waste - if you can get rid of it - it's beneficial," Harper said.

Utah Valley Energy isn't the only group in Utah aiming to make good use of trash. Murray officials announced earlier this month that they are planning to extract methane from waste in the Salt Lake City-County landfill and produce power.

Layton and South Jordan also are in the process of generating methane from city landfills. And methane generated by the Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District landfill in Davis County is already being piped to Hill Air Force Base to produce electricity.

John Watson, plant manager for Wasatch Integrated, said the power-producing technique proposed by Utah Valley Energy, though different than his operation, is a viable source of energy.

"Mass waste-burners are a pretty big business throughout the world," Watson said. "I think the U.S. is going to have to get a little bit more serious with this type of waste handling. It's something they're going to have to do, especially here in Utah. Wherever you go, land becomes a very valuable commodity."

thollingshead@sltrib.com