Waste Management of Illinois recently dedicated a new filling station for compressed natural gas in Wheeling, Ill. The new facility is equipped with 40 filling bays to fuel Waste Management CNG collection vehicles. The company currently operates six CNG-powered vehicles in Chicago’s north suburban communities and is awaiting delivery of 10 additional CNG vehicles this summer. It plans to increase its purchase of CNG-powered vehicles in the future.
“We have made the commitment to use more and more clean-burning CNG-powered collection trucks in the Chicago area,” says Steve Batchelor, Waste Management’s area vice president for Illinois and Indiana. “Our Wheeling facility will give us the direct capability to fuel our growing CNG fleet in the northern suburbs, lower our exhaust emissions and help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It’s a good step for our operations and a positive environmental contribution to the communities we serve.”
Batchelor says Waste Management is embracing clean fuel technology across North America and has set a goal to lower its overall emissions and increase the fuel efficiency of its fleet by 15 percent each by the year 2020 as part of its sustainability goals. He says the company also is responding to local governmental customers who have asked it to expand its use of the cleaner-burning vehicles as they pursue steps in their municipalities to achieve local environmental sustainability goals.
The Wheeling facility is the company’s first CNG filling station in the Chicago area, and plans are under way for a second Chicago-area site at the company’s operations in Chicago’s western suburbs. That is expected to start operations late this year.
“We congratulate Waste Management for taking another major step in demonstrating its commitment to the environment by implementing natural gas-powered refuse haulers and a natural gas refueling station at its Wheeling facility,” says Lisa Bonnett, interim director for the Illinois EPA. “Clean-burning natural gas is a great way to significantly reduce emissions from heavy-duty trucks and help our state meet its air quality goals and further our energy independence.”
