Republic Services has raised its bet on CNG to fuel its trucks

With Earth Day next April 22^nd approaching rapidly, the opportunity to release some good news for the environment was perfect. Thereby, it has been announced that Republic Services, one of the most important companies in the United States for the sectors of waste collection and waste management, has added 62 compressed natural gas (CNG) waste collection trucks to its fleet of South Florida, and now relies on a total of 127 CNG trucks for this area. In short, Republic Services has raised its bet on CNG to fuel its trucks. In replacement of the precedent diesel-fueled trucks, the CNG trucks represent a much better option for many reasons.

Why is CNG better than diesel for a waste collection truck fleet?

CNG is an alternative fuel to diesel and presents many financial and environmental benefits in comparison to the traditional fossil fuel. Financially, it is significantly cheaper and can lead to savings of around 50% on fuel costs compared to diesel according to a case study released in February 2014 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The CNG fleet on which the study was conducted managed to save around USD 0.90 per mile in fuel costs which at the moment represented a fuel economy equivalent to 2.1 additional miles per gallon of diesel. In terms of recouping the investment for transiting to a CNG fleet or implementing such infrastructure from ground zero, it has been determined expectations to be paid back after three to eight years depending on the investment wingspan. Thus, investing into a CNG-fueled waste collection truck fleet is clearly viable economically.

Environmentally, CNG induces what is known as petroleum displacement as well as fewer harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As an alternative fuel, CNG presents the obvious benefit of reducing the need for traditional fuel, per se diesel in this particular case. According to the same DOE study, which analyzed the consumption and emissions of a sample fleet of 70 trucks, CNG achieved to record a petroleum displacement equivalent to 520,000 gallons of diesel annually. In terms of GHG reductions, they accounted for roughly 1,800 tons of emissions per annum. With such evidence, it can be considered that CNG is a much more environmentally friendly fuel compared to diesel. Less scientifically, CNG trucks are 90% quieter than those fueling on diesel, which is much appreciated by the drivers and citizens.

 The specific case of Republic Services

Therefore, Republic Services has transited towards CNG for the previously mentioned financial and environmental benefits and now runs a total fleet of 2,500 CNG trucks as well as a network of 38 CNG fueling stations over the United States. It must be said that on the environmental side, it was obviously a way to comply with some corporate and municipal environmental initiatives. But it is also worth mentioning that, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, each CNG truck put into service instead of a diesel-fueled truck equals the plantation of 600 mature trees in one year for the environment. Accordingly, Republic Services states that the benefits induced by its fleet of 127 waste collection trucks in South Florida only are equal to planting over 76,000 mature trees annually in terms of carbon emissions reduction. Nationwide, the waste collector argues that its CNG fleet and infrastructures allow reducing its diesel consumption by approximately 18 million gallons over a year. Hereby, this great carbon balance sheet has led Republic Services to be awarded a score of 98% by the Carbon Disclosure Project in the 2015 S&P 500 Climate Change Report.

Thereafter, it must be kept in mind that that biogas can be refined and turned into renewable natural gas in order to be used in the fueling stations and truck fleets that work on CNG. It means that the more CNG trucks and infrastructures there are, the best it is for the biogas industry in terms of producing biogas in order to refine it and use it as a fuel for trucks and vehicles. Besides, Republic Services is not the only waste manager and collector transiting to CNG. Indeed, Waste Management started introducing CNG trucks in the 1990s among its fleet, which now counts roughly 4,500 vehicles using this alternative fuel that, according to the company, save each 8,000 gallons of diesel annually. Finally, it goes along that municipal anaerobic digestion plants would be complementary and thus would harmonize and optimize the processes inherent to the management of organic residual waste at the municipal level, from the collection of the inputs to the valuation of the outputs, namely digestate and biogas.

By Simon Lefebvre | 2016-04-14

Sources: US-EPA, US-DOE – Alternative Fuels Data Center, Green Fleet Magazine