Waste Management of Seattle today officially broke ground on its new compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station at its South Seattle operations headquarters and also unveiled the region’s most environmentally advanced, solid waste collection trucks. The new trucks are fueled by CNG and will dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions.

“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 fueled collection vehicles that will service Seattle. Within five years all 180 collection trucks in Waste Management’s Seattle-based fleet will be fueled by CNG.

City of Seattle Council President Richard Conlin helped Waste Management break ground on the new CNG fueling station that will serve the new fleet.

“In addition to significantly reducing climate change emissions, this new fleet of cleaner trucks is an important part of the City’s plan to dramatically increase recycling rates and improve the service provided to Seattle Public utility customers. We’re happy to have Waste Management on board and are confident that the transition will be a smooth one,” says Conlin.

Waste Management 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.

Waste Management 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, an 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. Switching to advanced CNG vehicle operations will provide significant environmental, public health and community benefits to the region. The collection trucks also will reduce noise pollution.