We had this at my Grade School in the early 1970s.
It was called “The Incinerator”.
I believe the Japanese have been using dumps to make a form of methane since the 80s.
bump
While garbage may, and does, provide a small amount of energy, the only scalable means of producing biofuel in the volume needed requires the use of microorganisms, specifically algae.
And the only viable biofuel that can be produced or used without a massive retooling of our national energy infrastructure is biodiesel, produced by algae. Many of our trucks, trains, and ships, and likewise cars already run on petroleum diesel, and with minor and inexpensive modification can run on biodiesel with little loss in performance. Retooling our auto industry for diesel engines would be far less expensive than any alternative.
In addition, biodiesel production consumes a vast amount of waste CO2 and nitrous oxides (NOx) gases, which are otherwise very expensive to dispose, and strongly increases its rate of growth. So algae biodiesel is profitable even in production. It grows well in recycled gray water, and can be grown in quantity almost year around in much of the United States.
Some species of algae are as much as 50% vegetable oil, by weight. Once this oil is extracted, it is mixed with ethanol and lye, then filtered to produce biodiesel. 1% petroleum diesel is added as a preservative.
While most attention to alternative fuels by the media has been given to speculative start up corporations, the existing oil companies have been investing in algae based biodiesel. This alone indicates that it is the best alternative.