Waste Management Adds 1000th Truck To Natural Gas Fleet
Waste Management added its 1000th natural gas truck to its fleet on July 12, making it the largest owner and operator of clean-running, heavy duty refuse trucks in North America.
At a ceremony at its Carson, CA property, the company commemorated the delivery of its 1000th natural gas vehicle with Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster starting up the new recycling truck that will serve his city's residents.
The trucks Waste Management runs out of its Carson service yard – as well as a third of its California clean fleet -- are powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) derived from the decomposition of organic waste from their Altamont Landfill in Livermore, Calif. Since November 2009, the landfill has been generating as much as 13,000 gallons of LNG per day, a virtually zero-carbon transportation fuel.
In just one year, Waste Management's 1000 natural gas trucks will displace eight million gallons of petroleum and eliminate 4,500 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Waste Management also has compressed natural gas (CNG) and LNG fueling stations at seventeen of its facilities throughout North America with more under development. Duane Woods, Senior Vice President at Waste Management said that the company hopes to develop a new landfill-gas-to-LNG facility at its Simi Valley, CA landfill.
Waste Management was the first solid waste company to join the California Climate Action Registry. In 2003, the company committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through increased recycling, the use of alternative transportation fuels, and the beneficial use of landfill gas. The natural gas fleet is part of the company's environmental sustainability initiative to direct capital spending of up to $500 million per year, over a ten-year period, to reduce its fleet emissions and increase the fuel efficiency of its fleet by fifteen percent by 2020.