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One of the most practical ways that the Saint-Michel Environmental Complex is turning the site of North America's second-largest landfill site around is by turning its mountains of garbage into energy. The city began harnessing the potential for creating energy from landfill gas collection in 1996 and has been selling the energy it produces to Hydro Quebec ever since, providing enough energy to heat 600,000 homes a year.

The odourless, colourless gas produced by the decomposition of organic waste in a landfill is half methane and half carbon dioxide, which, if left untreated, is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. The Saint-Michel site is home to 33,000,000 tonnes of waste.

The gas is captured by drilling deep into the landfill and pumping it out through a network of pipes to facilities where it can be converted to generate electricity, with a small percentage being flared off. The Saint-Michel site uses more than 60,000 metres of gas collection piping. Burning landfill gas destroys most of its harmful components, which helped to take care of the undesirable odours that had been a complaint of the surrounding community. At Saint-Michel, 98 percent of the gas is converted into electricity, while two percent is flared off.