Natural Gas Trucks for one Commercial Waste Company

By Rita Cook

The largest privately owned waste management company in North Texas, Community Waste Disposal will be unveiling five Compressed Natural Gas trucks at a special ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 15, at the Trinity Audubon Center in Dallas.

The trucks were initially previewed at the Dallas' Earth Day celebration in April. “CWD is fully committed to being an environmentally–friendly partner to the DFW area and the CNG trucks will make an impact on reducing greenhouse emissions,” says Deena Killingsworth, Senior Consultant at Hopkins & Associates, Inc., the company’s PR firm. “It also makes good business sense. CNG vehicles are less expensive to operate; natural gas costs 40 percent less than diesel.” Environmentally-friendly Compressed Natural Gas trucks, these new vehicles will also run quieter, leading to less noise pollution.

Even better though, the trucks will reduce greenhouse gasses by 25 percent, which dramatically cuts the company's carbon footprint. Over a year, these five trucks will eliminate the equivalent of 370 vehicles on the road daily. In fact, the five CNG trucks will eliminate 225 metric tons of greenhouse emissions each year. The five new CNG trucks will be placed on five of the 100 daily routes that CWD runs throughout the Metroplex. CWD services many private companies as well as residents of 14 local municipal partners, which are Allen, Azle, Balch Springs, Burleson, Euless, Farmersville, Forney, Frisco, Keller, Little Elm, Ovilla, Patego and Wylie. Community Waste Disposal along with four Texas cities, has been recognized by the Greater Dallas Fort Worth Recycling Council for its Outstanding Recycling Partnership. The four Texas cities also recognized were Little Elm, Azle, Forney and Wylie

Currently, CWD has 125 trucks in its fleet. With CWD’s current rate of growth, it is anticipated that in 10 years there will be 175 trucks in the fleet. CWD plans to convert its entire diesel fleet to CNG within 10 years, says company president Greg Roemer. “The decision to move to CNG trucks was an environmental decision, but also a business decision,” says Roemer. “The trucks are less expensive to operate and the cost of natural gas is cheaper than diesel, which should really help our profit margin. Plus, our customers will enjoy less disruption with these quieter trucks, and we’re all about keeping the customer happy.”

Roemer said too, that he and his team at Community Waste Disposal spent about a year studying, learning about and researching CNG trucks before they actually started to become a reality this year. The team is excited to see all five trucks on the road in 2012.