St. Petersburg to build waste-to-energy plant

By Christopher O'Donnell

ST. PETERSBURG – Every year, the city transports roughly 36,000 tons of treated sewage to Polk County to be used as fertilizer.

That simple form of recycling reduces the burden on city landfills, but trucking the waste as much as 80 miles away still costs the city about $2.6 million per year.

Now, city officials are planning to save money by turning the sewage into renewable energy that could be used to power its water treatment plant or be converted into natural gas to fuel service vehicles.

Last week, the City Council approved a $2.9-million contract with a consulting firm to design a system to convert methane gas from sewage into energy at its wastewater treatment plant on 54th Avenue South.