Blackburn Resource Recovery Facility

Catawba County’s EcoComplex components continue to evolve in order to meet the goal of developing a system that will recover all useable products and byproducts from a group of private and public partners that will work together to use each other’s waste products either as a source of energy or as a raw material for the manufacture of their own product. The EcoComplex is focused on making and using sustainable energy and on the economic development of Catawba County.

The Blackburn Resource Recovery Facility (Landfill) is the largest component of the EcoComplex. The Facility receives on average 680 tons per day of municipal and construction and demolition waste (MSW and C&D). The Blackburn Landfill Gas-to-Energy Facility is made up of three landfill methane gas-burning engine/generator sets that have the capacity to generate approximately 3 megawatts of renewable electricity per hour; this is enough electricity to power 1,400 average-sized homes.

The purpose of the methane-to-energy process is to provide an economical means to prevent methane migration and emissions from the County’s landfill. In doing so, the County is protecting the health and welfare of Catawba County citizens and the environment, while generating revenue from a renewable fuel source.