City Harvest adds green truck

City Harvest is applying its mission to reduce waste in a new way--with its trucks. Through a $60,000 donation, the organization has retrofitted one of its fleets’ trucks into a biofueled, custom-made vehicle that cuts down on fuel usage.

The new truck uses 1,023 less gallons of fuel than a standard truck, running on B20 biodiesel. It has a cold plate system that will store excess power while the truck is running to keep the truck’s contents cold when the engine is off.

"It's a natural extension of our mission to serve hungry New Yorkers while carefully managing our resources,'' said Jilly Stephens, executive director of City Harvest, a non-profit that delivers excess food from restaurants to the city’s hungry citizens.

According to Stephens, City Harvest will complete a full changeover by the end of 2009, not through retrofitting but rather by purchasing new, environmentally friendly vehicles.