Page County is using some green to go green, because Shenandoah Waste Services announced Thursday it will invest $4 million into expanding its materials recycling operation in Page County.

The expansion will create 60 new jobs for the area. Page County beat out some tough competition from localities in Maryland, North Carolina, and West Virginia for the expansion. With the help of $75,000 from the Governor's Opportunity Fund, Page County is taking the next step in conserving energy by recycling used materials for alternative fuel sources.

"We take a waste product that we're paid to receive and try to recoup as many valuable resources out of it as possible and try to turn it into something we can recoup a profit from," says Jody Salyards, of Shenandoah Waste Services.

It's 20-percent cheaper for companies to sell their leftover debris to Shenandoah Waste Services than to take it to the landfill. It also helps out developers who want to go green from the start.

"Help them actually in develop part of the design and try to incorporate green building practices from the start to the finish and then when they do generate waste, we help them eliminate that waste by sorting it to its base components and finding a home for it," says Salyards.

Not only does this keep more trash from going to the landfills, but more companies are becoming interested in this kind of service.

"It's an economic advantage that we now have in our cap, having Jody here with companies so interested in finding how to get rid of their byproducts that it's now another attractive thing to offer," says Tom LaFrance, Page County Board of Supervisors.

This is also attractive to upcoming graduates because there will be more job opportunities in the county.

"It benefits the county. It will help the people here and help the economy and help preserve all this," says Sheena Palmer, a senior at Page County High School.

Shenandoah Waste Services already has a small operation going in the Valley which helped with the new JMU library. It was a totally waste-free construction site in which all of the waste was re-used in some way.

From a construction site, the can turn dry wall into paper and a fertilizer component. The metals and plastics are all sorted and then sold. Shingles are even ground and turned into an asphalt base to be used for paving.