Cherokee, IA - The Pellet Plant at the Cherokee Landfill is up and running. Landfill Manager Don Pitts took the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors through the operational process of how they're making the pellets out of recycled materials such as paper and plastics.

Processed Densified Engineered Fuel (PDEF) pellets are made from recycled landfill waste. After materials are sorted at the landfill, they are placed into a large pit with a conveyer belt and travel though a series of bins that blow the material around and separates any left-over metal or any other foreign objects. Then the recycled materials are wetted down and molded into the pellet shape and moved on to a big furnace that cooks and dries the pellets. The pellets are then dumped into a large room to cool and from there are ready to be shipped out.

An ethanol company in Chancellor S.D. is currently using the pellets. The Pellet Plant is currently producing 45 tons a day and is running one eight-hour shift.