Recycled garbage could soon be used as road material in Pasco County.
The process will make the county the first in the nation to use recycled garbage for road material.
Director of the Pasco County Solid Waste Department John Power says the county has been working on this idea for the past two years. The process will help clear ashes that have been sitting in landfills since the early 90s.
“It’s been around," said Power. "It’s been done in Europe for probably 20 years or more, so it’s not a new idea. But it certainly is a new approach for Pasco that the county took and then got authorization on.”
The Solid Waste Department drops about 200 tons of ashes a day, and instead of those ashes taking space, officials decided to put the ashes back into the environment.
They start by grabbing some of the trash and then dropping it into a bin to be burned. Once burned, the ashes are picked up and dumped into a field and then later divided into small and large bottom ashes.
Those ashes are then laid under the asphalt. These new recycled roads that the county says would save taxpayers money.
“A mile you can save about $100,000 by using the ash to replace the lime rock,” said Power.
The county is still assessing the roads it plans to add the recycled garbage to.