City of Long Beach Unveils First Municipal Near-Zero Emissions Refuse Truck

The City of Long Beach, California recently unveiled a new municipal refuse truck that it says is the first in the country to employ the Cummins Westport ISL G Near-Zero NOx engine. The City’s new municipal refuse truck is the first of 23 identical near-zero emissions refuse trucks that will be coming to Long Beach and will go into service in the next six months. Thirteen of the 23 trucks will be partially funded by a grant from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC).

“Long Beach is working hard to improve the environment for our residents in every possible way,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “I’m proud that we are again setting the pace with our fleet, this time with new technology that drastically cuts heavy truck emissions.”

The City says it will also soon begin using renewable natural gas to maximize the emissions reduction of the new engine. This is just the most recent move for Long Beach, which runs an aggressive green fleet program and has been working towards cleaner transport since the 1970s. It began with the purchase of 50 CNG Ford Rancheros for use at the Long Beach Gas Department. In the 1980’s, CNG Police patrol cars were added to the fleet. In the 1990s, Fleet integrated CNG refuse trucks; and in 2003, Long Beach became the first city in the U.S. to use LNG for its street sweepers.