Waste Industries has announced it is updating its fleet by adding 19 refuse trucks and one service truck that run on compressed natural gas (CNG). The $8-million project also includes the construction of a private CNG fueling station for the new and an upgrade to the fleet’s maintenance shop.
Deployment of CNG-powered trucks is growing, according to Frank Lorick, Mid-South area vice president for Waste Industries. “This is something that’s catching on, we’re just trying to be on the front line,” he said, in a Durham, NC Herald-Sunnews report. “This is just our first station,” Lorick said. “We already have on the planning block another station that will open up some time in the first quarter of 2013.”
Although CNG trucks cost $35,000 to $40,000 more, according to Waste Industries, the benefits associated with them outweigh that cost.
Besides lowering carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and other emissions, the company anticipates the trucks will lower fuel costs by at least $2 a gallon immediately and expects fewer maintenance costs over time as well.
