Creative Conservation: Six Cities Taking the Lead in Safeguarding America's Resources

Clayton County, GA

This southeastern county has learned to reclaim ten million of the 26 million gallons of water its citizens use annually by building a water treatment center that incorporates a 4,000-acre wetland, where treated wastewater runs through a serious of graded pools, ensuring that any remaining contaminants are filtered out by thick vegetation. Once clean, the water runs into reservoirs for future use. And the best part? This unique treatment center doubles as a nature preserve.

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Winchester, KT

Here in Winchester, East Kentucky Power Cooperative generates enough power to fuel between 7,500 and 8,000 homes using….garbage? When landfill waste decomposes, it releases methane, a pollutant that is generally allowed to escape into the atmosphere. However, some companies like EKPC have developed a technique to capture and purify the toxic gas into usable energy.

Candor, NY

In this aptly named town, AA Dairy has learned to be frank about manure and its possibilities for generating power. Much like landfill waste, manure also releases methane gas, more than enough to run this New York dairy farm. Workers at AA Dairy scrape animal waste and bedding into a digesting machine that collects and processes methane gas. The solid waste is then composted and sold, providing an additional financial incentive for such candor.

Philadelphia, PA

Fry-O-Diesel, a Philadelphia-based company, has figured out how to make biodiesel fuel from sewer grease traps that traps used cooking oil called "brown grease." A 2004 report by the International Energy Agency estimates that the United States could make 500 million gallons of biodiesel a year from waste grease. Now that’s what I call fast food!

Lyndeborough, NH

Forget the 9 to 5. Workers in Lyndeborough are encouraged to work four ten-hour days weekly to save fuel. By commuting one day fewer each week, these workers save 20 percent of their fuel costs and consumption.

Lafayette, CO

What to do with all those ice shavings? The local YMCA ice arena in Lafayette, Colorado, melts ice shavings collected by its Zamboni machine to reuse in a fountain in front of the building and to water the sports facility’s soccer fields. Each time the Zamboni scrapes the ice, 15 times daily, it picks up about 250 gallons of water in ice shavings. The YMCA hopes it will someday be able to reuse that water on the ice, but hasn’t yet figured out how to adequately clean the shavings. The ice picks up metal slivers from skates, as well as bacteria and lint from skaters’ clothing. If that dirt contaminates the six inches of base ice on the arena, the entire sheet will have to be melted and replaced.