A planned $425 million facility in St. Lucie County will zap its garbage into gas and rock-like material using lightning-like plasma arcs that is hotter than the temperature of the sun. Eight plasma arc-equipped cupolas will vaporize trash at more than 10,000F 24/7, 365 days a year.

According to Geoplasma, the company building and paying for the plant, zapping landfill is not only cleaner than traditional incineration but every by-product can be reused.

Geoplasma described the system as "sustainability in its truest and finest form."

The gas produced in the process will be used to run turbines to generate about 120 megawatts of electricity. The facility itself will run on about 30% of the power it generates.

About 80,000 pounds of steam per day will be sold to a nearby Tropicana Products Inc. facility to power the juice plant's turbines. When sludge from the county's waste water treatment plant is vaporized it will create up to 600 tons of melted organic matter a day. This will be hardened into slag and used in road and construction projects.

Geoplasma also touted its safety. They claim no emissions are released during the closed-loop gasification, other than that coming from the synthetic gas-powered turbines that create electricity, and few other toxins will be generated.

Wilson claims there aren't enough studies to prove the company's claims that the technology is cleaner than standard natural-gas power plant. In fact, two similar facilities in Australia and Germany were closed after failing to meet emissions standards.