The Liberty County Commission Thursday approved a conditional use permit for a waste handling facility near Midway which will produce fertilizer from the waste products of food handling operations.

An official of Neo Energy, the applicant, said the operation would employ around eight workers. Documents filed with the Coastal Regional Commission show an estimated $40,000 to $50,000 in local tax revenues will be generated by the Neo Energy plant.

Neo Energy uses a digestion process in which waste from food processing is broken down by bacteria. Sophisticated odor control systems is supposed to prevent the escape of any smell. Trucks will be loaded and unloaded inside the plant.

An estimated 19-22 trucks will go to and from the plant each week, including those hauling foodstock waste in for treatment and moving its output to Elan Technologies in the Midway Industrial Park for final processing and a single weekly truck delivering chemicals such as sulfuric acid and ferric chloride.

Neo Energy will lease a five-acre site from the Liberty County Development Authority for its plant.

Allen Davis of the Coastal Estuary Protection Association had asked the commission at its last meeting to allow time for his organization to study whether the project would harm the delicate coastal environment. Commission Chairman Donald Lovette said Thursday that Davis had reported no objections to the plant.