Lancaster Sanitary Landfill, Lancaster, N.Y.
by WarrenS52
Local folklore has it that the man that once owned the Lancaster Sanitary Landfill in Western N.Y. was a German Immigrant.
He came to America with nothing, started out doing concrete work with nothing more than a wheelbarrow.
Went on to build his own concrete Mfg. facility and trucking company, Pine Hill Concrete. Bought approx. 155 acres of land to mine the gravel contained on site. When the land was exhausted of gravel, he opened up the landfill in 1961, and operated it until 1985.
He then operated a landfill gas-to-energy electric generating station on the site for 13 years. The decomposition of the buried waste creates methane. Well pipes are driven into the waste, hoses are connected and is pumped into a generating building where 7 units of 16 cylinder Diesel type engines, that run on methane are connected to generators producing electricity, and then sold to the local utility and then on to consumers.
Talk about a gold mine piece of property !
A true entrepreneur, of the likes rarely seen today.
Here’s a SALUTE to Ludwig K., for his vision and determination to build a better life for himself, his family, employees and our community.
