To reduce its carbon footprint and increase productivity, the City of Surrey, British Columbia is switching to compressed natural gas trucks for residential waste pickup.
The new CNG refuse trucks purchased by Progressive Waste Solutions emit 23 per cent less carbon emissions and 90 per cent less air particulates, compared to traditional diesel trucks.
“It’s important for municipalities to demonstrate and advance new technologies and to help facilitate new ways of reducing waste” said Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts in an announcement about the contract.
Studies show that replacing one diesel truck with a CNG truck is the greenhouse gas equivalent to taking 475 cars off the road each year.
“The new services will help residents separate kitchen and yard waste from solid waste by collecting organics separately from garbage, which will help the City meet its 70 per cent waste diversion objective before 2015,” says a representative from Vigia Automatic Tire Pressure System in an announcement about the new contract.
All trucks are equipped with the Vigia Automatic Tire Pressure System, allowing Progressive Waste Solutions to further increase fuel economy and reduce tire costs.
In the future, the organic waste will be delivered to the City’s proposed Organics Biofuel facility, which will process it into fuel to power the waste trucks.
Surrey manages the collection of residential curb side garbage, recycling and yard waste for approximately 97,000 single-family dwellings each week.