Waste Management

Georgia Power has a longtime commitment to recycling and waste management. In 2008, we recycled 864,000 pounds of paper and cardboard, 2.5 million pounds of wood, 25 million pounds of scrap metal and 75,000 pounds of plastic, generating almost $9 million in revenue for the company.

Recycling and Reusing Coal Ash
Georgia Power looks constantly for new opportunities to increase recycling of the ash produced by its coal-fired power plants. In a typical year, the company recycles and reuses up to 30 percent to 35 percent of the ash. The coal ash is used in many beneficial ways such as making concrete. In 2008, the company officially embarked on a joint effort with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Georgia Department of Transportation to evaluate the use of coal ash as fill for road construction.

The Coal Combustion Products Demonstration Project is concentrated on a portion of the South Rome Bypass in Floyd County. Some 31,000 tons of ash from Georgia Power's Plant Yates are being used in place of native soil for embankment fill material.

Ash has been used as fill material in other states, but this is a first for Georgia. With more than 1,000 road projects each year in Georgia, ash may soon provide the state with a cheaper, easier alternative for fill material than excavating and moving soil. See video.

Labor Saver Makes Bill Printing Greener
Georgia Power prints all of the bills and stockholder communications for Southern Company, producing a whopping 200,000-plus bills per day. The company employs an innovative vacuum system that sucks up and shreds excess paper left over once the bills are folded and trimmed. Eventually, the paper ends up in a compactor, where it is pressed into 1,000-pound bales.

The system recycles an average of 5,300 pounds of paper a month. Meanwhile, Georgia Power also helps customers avoid paper altogether through e-billing. More than 300,000 customers opt to use the greener, online approach, and the company promotes e-billing as another way customers can be eco-friendly.

Waste Efficiency and Management
Solid waste takes up enormous amounts of landfill space and is costly. In 2008, Georgia Power entered into a partnership with Oakleaf Inc., to create a statewide waste efficiency program for its various facilities. The Oakleaf partnership will help Georgia Power better understand how much waste the company generates and recycles. In addition, it will provide the company with more recycling opportunities and significant cost savings.

Plant McDonough Construction Goes Aggressively Green
The construction of three 840-megawatt combined-cycle gas turbines at Plant McDonough may be the “greenest” building project the company has ever undertaken.

The removal and demolition costs were projected to be high, near $1 million. But workers were able to recycle most of the debris instead of bringing in new materials. Workers crushed and reused the 19,000 tons of concrete slabs and rocks that had to be dug out, sent 195 tons of metal and steel out for recycling, at a savings of more than $13,000, and recycled 23,000 pounds of tires found buried on the site.

The cost avoidance to date for the project is near $700,000. In addition, there’s been an environmental benefit, as recycling has kept tons of material out of landfills. It is also helping to keep the project on time and within budget.

The project also reaped another environmental benefit in the form of reduced sulfur dioxide emissions, as the heavy equipment contractors are being required to use ultra-low sulfur diesel to power their on-site vehicles.

The combined-cycle units, numbered 4, 5 and 6, are expected to be online in 2011 and 2012.

When completed, Plant McDonough will have the fourth largest generating production capacity in Georgia, and the second largest capacity owned by Georgia Power, exceeded only by Plant Bowen. In addition, Plant McDonough will have reduced its nitrous oxide emissions by 85 percent, sulfur dioxide emissions by 99 percent, mercury emissions by 100 percent and the carbon dioxide emission rate by 50 percent.

As the combined-cycle units come online, the two remaining coal-fired generating units at Plant McDonough, which currently contribute about 540 megawatts to the system, will be retired.