Truman company ships more refuse fuel to Xcel Energy

(Photo courtesy of Prairieland Solid Waste Management)

A garbage processing plant in Truman in southern Minnesota is leaving the composting business and shipping more refuse for use as a fuel. The Fairmont Sentinel reports Prairieland Solid Waste Management has signed a contract to send more of the fuel to an Xcel Energy power plant in Mankato.

Besides the Wilmarth Generating Station in Mankato, Xcel Energy also has plants in Red Wing, Minn., and La Crosse, Wis., that burn shredded garbage as fuel.

Heidi Benedict, manager of the Wilmarth facility, says Xcel Energy has used 'refuse-derived fuel' as it's known for nearly 25 years. She says under the new contract Prairieland will send about one thousand tons of fuel a month to the Wilmarth plant, roughly double what it's delivered in the past.

Benedict says most of the Wilmarth operation's fuel comes from the Twin Cities area. Eden Prairie-based Resource Recovery Technologies sends more than 15,000 tons a month to the Mankato plant.

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