News : Converting trash to fuel: Progress continues on Fiberight facility in Blairstown

The hope that the trash of Benton County can soon be used to create ethanol instead of sitting forever in a hole in the ground continues to become closer to reality.

The Benton County Supervisors met Tuesday morning with Craig Stuart-Paul, the CEO of Fiberright. That company from Virginia purchased the former ethanol plant south of Blairstown and is converting it into a facility that uses a rare bacteria to convert trash into ethanol.

Stuart-Paul has been working with Renae Becker of the Benton Development Group, the Iowa Power Fund and federal officials, as well as private investors, to secure authorization and funding for the project.

Stuart-Paul told the supervisors that a recent study of Iowa garbage indicates that 55 percent of trash is food waste or paper packaging, all of which can be converted to ethanol.

The supervisors and Fiberight have been working for months on the project. Stuart-Paul told them Tuesday that if all goes well, the plant could possibly begin accepting garbage in the spring of 2011.

The supervisors expressed their hope that Fiberight can succeed.

"I like the idea,'" said Ron Buch of the possibility of diverting trash from the landfill to the ethanol plant.

Supervisor Dave Vermedahl agreed. The next step is for Stuart-Paul to obtain a Memorandum of Understanding from the county, expressing the support of local leaders for the project. That, Stuart-Paul said, would help him secure funding for the project.