By Robert Carr, Waste 360.

The Florida Keys islands, known for their lush tropical palm trees and extensive coral reefs, may sign off on a plan this spring to convert its residents’ yard waste to electricity through gasification, in a cost-saving effort to reduce greenhouse gases.

Monroe County, which encompasses Key West and about 95 percent of the rest of the Keys islands, is finalizing a contract with Annapolis, Md.-based Energy3 LLC to build a gasification plant capable of processing 50,000 tons of organic material. The county had sought an RFP in 2014 to improve the sustainability of its yard waste elimination program, and signed a roughly $7 million contract then with Energy3 to examine building the plant. The county’s Board of Commissioners plan to meet Wednesday with the company to go over final terms for the contract.