An Enbridge Gas partnership brings Ontario its first carbon-negative garbage truck fueled by RNG
Building on a 2021 partnership that launched Canada’s first carbon-negative bus, Enbridge Gas Inc. expanded its lowcarbon initiatives by partnering with the Bluewater Recycling Association and the Ontario Waste Management Association to bring Ontario its first carbon-negative refuse truck fueled by renewable natural gas.
According to Tariq Qurashi, a business development specialist on Enbridge Gas’ low-carbon team, the RNG comes from manure produced by cows at a farm only 30 miles from the Bluewater Recycling Association facility. The annual manure output of about 100 cows produces approximately 1,040 gigajoules of RNG, which is close to the amount of diesel fuel (9,600 gallons) that would be used by a conventional garbage truck in one year.
Using this RNG to fuel the truck diverts methane emissions that would otherwise have been released into the air and eliminates the carbon dioxide emissions that would have come from the diesel fuel previously used to power the truck. The result is carbonnegative emissions that both divert farm waste and support local economic development.
The Bluewater Recycling Association, a rural recycling consortium that’s collectively owned by 22 member municipalities, was chosen for the partnership because it had been using trucks fueled by compressed natural gas for around a decade. It therefore had a natural gas procurement contract that gave it the freedom to purchase RNG from a local producer on the “spot market.” It also happened to be taking delivery of a new truck.
There is no difference in a truck operating on CNG or RNG.
“We were able to work with a local producer, so it made a really nice visual story because it illustrated that we can take RNG that’s produced from these cows, inject it into the gas grid and move it almost 30 miles north to Bluewater and put it in our truck,” Qurashi told American Gas. “Having that producer just down the road makes it tangible, because you can see those 100 cows that just filled this one garbage truck with a day’s supply.”
To further drive the point home, the truck is emblazoned with a picture of a cow.
Over the course of the six-month pilot, the truck will displace 18,000 liters, or 4,724 gallons, of diesel fuel without compromising performance, since, like diesel, RNG operates during freezing weather. The trucks are priced similarly to a diesel truck and are half the cost of an electric truck.
Moving forward, Enbridge Gas hopes to help other businesses and municipalities use RNG to fuel their fleets, which is why it communicates regularly with its stakeholders.
“Once people understand and have a more nuanced view of the topic of turning waste into energy and its potential benefits for communities and states and provinces, you tend to get more buy in,” Qurashi said. “But that only happens when you communicate with them, so the time and treasure invested in community relations and stakeholder relations is well invested.”