Here’s an interesting tidbit that I picked up at the Natural Gas Vehicle Infrastructure Conference last October, and have yet to do anything with. One of the presentations at the conference was by Dan Pio, v.p. and COO of Progressive Waste Solutions. He spoke of the company’s transition to a natural gas fleet, but more interestingly, he also detailed how Progressive will soon be turning the trash it collects into fuel for this fleet.

The company has already begun setting up its Lachenaie Landfill site north of Montreal to convert methane gas produced there into natural gas for its trucks, creating a new revenue stream for the company as well as reducing its fuel spend. “The very materials we collect today, will fuel our trucks as early as (this) year,” Pio said. “That’s a profound statement, and a far cry from where this industry was 30-40 years ago.”

He went on to say that the project will produce enough gas to power its entire Canadian fleet. The company already runs more than 130 CNG-powered trucks and it anticipates that 50-55% of the 350-400 vehicles it buys this year will also run off natural gas. Natural gas vehicles currently account for 13% of Progressive’s Canadian fleet. “We’re all-in with natural gas,” he said. “For us, natural gas is clearly a differentiator in our space.” I’ll have more details on this endeavour in a future issue.