WM of Seattle to Open CNG Fueling Station
Waste Management of Seattle on Jan. 14 officially broke ground on its new compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station at its South Seattle operations headquarters and also unveiled the region's new solid waste collection trucks.
"Waste Management is committed to helping our region take the bold steps necessary to improve local air quality. We are dramatically reducing our use of CO2-emitting fuels with this substantial upgrade in equipment. We are investing in cleaner air," said Susan Robinson, director of Public Sector Services for Waste Management, NW. The new trucks unveiled are among the first of 106 new CNG vehicles that will service Seattle. Within five years, all 180 collection trucks in the region's fleet will be fueled by CNG.
The company is putting the new trucks into service as they arrive and has a dozen already on the job in Seattle. One hundred and six CNG trucks will be in service when Waste Management begins its new collection contract with the city of Seattle on March 30. Construction on the fueling depot is scheduled to be complete in April. The station will service the new fleet and also be open to the public.
The company is investing $29 million in the new vehicles and an additional $7.5 million to build the fueling station. The new trucks are six times cleaner than diesel engines manufactured in 2007. They already meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2010 emission standards for oxides of nitrogen (NOx), producing nearly zero particulate emissions.
An independent environmental review produced by Gladstein, Neandross & Associates, a environmental consulting firm, determined Waste Management's equipment upgrade will reduce smog-causing NOx by 97 percent, toxic diesel particulate matter by 94 percent and greenhouse gas by 20 percent, over current levels.