Climate-friendly waste logistics

In Switzerland, but also in Germany and Austria, municipalities are pushing climate protection. Quite a few of them are using CNG-powered refuse collection vehicles, usually in combination with biogas plants. This makes waste logistics more climate-friendly and closes material cycles.

The Scania delivers fresh green waste to Kompogas Utzenstorf AG, which in turn produces new biogas for the next tours of the CNG-powered refuse collection vehicle. Source: CNG-Mobility.ch

The approach is as simple as it is clever: a CNG-powered refuse collection vehicle collects organic residues in a municipality or region and takes them to a biogas plant where they are further processed. With the biogas produced, the CNG vehicle can immediately set off on its next collection tour and is almost CO₂-neutral on the way.

Junior boss Andreas Keller with the new Scania collection vehicle powered by CNG. Source: CNG-Mobility.ch

In Switzerland, this exemplary waste disposal logistics system is already being used successfully in several regions and municipalities. In French-speaking Switzerland, for example, or at Gast AG Utzenstorf in the Solothurn region, which has been collecting green waste with two CNG trucks since 2006. In the Thayngen region, the family-owned company Keller Kehricht-Abfuhr has also been using a bright blue CNG vehicle for the collection tour since 2021 and then refuelling at the first semi-public biogas filling station on a farm.

One of the collection vehicles in use in Tyrol, on the railing of the biogas plant of Bioenergie Schlitters GmbH. Source: Tigas/Bioenergie Schlitters GmbH

Such examples are increasingly setting a precedent – also in nearby countries. Because here, too, municipalities have to meet ever stricter emission standards if they want to achieve the ambitious EU climate targets. In Schlitters, Tyrol, for example, Tigas-Erdgas Tirol GmbH and Bioenergie Schlitters GmbH are working together successfully. The two companies turn waste into recyclable material. Biogas-powered collection vehicles deliver tonnes of biogenic residues for biogas processing. In this way, natural resources are optimally used and fed into an energy cycle. The biogas can be upgraded and fed into the grid or used for the production of “bio-heat” or as biogas for petrol stations and mobility. With the amount of biogas produced in Schlitters, Austria, 12.5 million kilometres could be covered by a CNG car in a CO₂-neutral way or about 1500 households in the region could be heated.

A Remondis driver refuelling his CNG-powered refuse collection vehicle. Source: Westfalen AG

In western Germany near the Dutch border, in Coesfeld (D), the recycling company Remondis and the Westfalen Group are also driving forward climate protection and the energy transition. In order to make waste logistics in inner-city traffic more environmentally friendly, they are relying on biogas as part of a cooperation and have even opened a new biogas filling station for this purpose. This is an important project for the city of Coesfeld, which has a population of around 37,000, as Deputy Mayor Ulrike Fascher emphasises: “The opening of the biogas filling station, in addition to wind power and photovoltaics, is another building block for the city of Coesfeld to promote the reduction of CO₂ emissions and achieve its climate goals.”

Happy about the new biogas filling station in German Coesfeld (from left): Andre Stracke (Head of Mobility, Westphalia), Ulrike Fascher (Deputy Mayor of Coesfeld), Dipl.-Ing. Stefan Bölte (Managing Director, Wirtschaftsbetriebe Kreis Coesfeld) and Thorsten Feldt (Managing Director Remondis Region West). Source: Westfalen Group

And in the course of the frequent fleet conversion from diesels to CNG vehicles, which are almost CO₂-neutral on the road thanks to biogas in the tank, the waste disposal specialist Remondis is also increasingly relying on waste collection vehicles powered by CNG. A number of them have already been in use in Münsterland since 2021. Thorsten Feldt, Managing Director of Remondis Region West: “There is no alternative to switching to climate-friendly drives, but it also involves large investments in vehicles and infrastructure. A partnership model like the one here in the Coesfeld district is goal-oriented in order to be able to successfully master this task for the future. Thus, with the conversion to biogas, we can offer not only the citizens, but also the commercial and industrial customers in the region a climate-friendly collection of their waste.” (pd/jas, 24 August 2023)

Of course, other CNG vehicles, such as this Welaki, which can transport skips in an almost CO₂-neutral way, can also be refuelled at Westfalen’s new biogas filling station. Source: Westfalen AG