Here is an compelling story out of Washington State, where one concerned citizen is taking steps to see if she can take an environmental plight on Washington lakes, known as the plant milfoil, and make that pest into biofuels.  Good luck Alanna Mitchell.

The New York Times has an interesting story today titled: “Gassing Up With Garbage.”

It looks at the benefits of developing biofuels from waste - and the challenges that remain to make this happen on a viable, large-scale commercial scale. David Morris, a FoodPriceTruth.org Food Price Expert is quoted talking about the biofuels mandate passed by Congress:

“One has to say upfront that what Congress has done is remarkable in its bravery,” said David Morris, vice president of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, a group in Minneapolis that advocates biofuels.

According to this press release, InEnTec LLC, a company from Bend, Oregon, has developed technology that:

will be used to convert municipal solid waste to ethanol for cars and trucks in the first commercial-scale production facility of its kind in the U.S. The plant will recycle household garbage, reducing the environmental impact of local landfills while helping to satisfy demand for low-cost, renewable, transportation fuel.

This is exciting news and more evidence that 2nd generation biofuels are just around the corner.   

Ineos, a Bristish chemicals company, has announced a new technology allowing it to make ethanol from common garbage.  The Times of London reports:

“The company claims that it can produce about 400 litres (90 gallons) of ethanol from one tonne of dry waste. The new process works by heating the waste to produce gases, then feeding the gases to bacteria, which produce ethanol that can be purified into a fuel.”

Ineos says the technology will be available commercially in 2010.