E-Z Pack Manufacturing is now offering a rear-mounted front loader compressed natural gas solid waste collection truck.

The vehicle is an E-Z Pack Hercules Front Loader body built on a 2012 Mack chassis. The CNG tanks are integrated in the upper rear of the vehicle for optimized vehicle weight distribution and lower overall height, and the body features greater ground clearance and a fuel capacity of 75 diesel gallon equivalents.

The first truck was delivered to Waste Pro USA in Atlanta. E-Z Pack has previously offered a CNG-enabled Automated Side Loader and rear loader garbage trucks (and continue to do so) but this is the first rear-mounted front loader it has brought to market.

In addition to being CNG-enabled, the truck includes two other environmentally friendly features:

-Powder coat paint that, unlike the wet paint process, doesn't emit volatile organic compounds into the air

-"Quiet Hydraulics" technology that reduces noise and improves fuel efficiencies.

"We challenged E-Z Pack to come up with a unique way to effectively manage weight distribution to meet the demands of our highway system," says Bob Nicholas, corporate fleet manager at Waste Pro USA. "Plus, we wanted full productivity with low RPM and fuel-efficient operations. This truck will have no speed-up noise. It will work very quietly."

In October 2011, Waste Pro USA announced a $100 million investment to transition their fleet of heavy trucks from diesel fuel to CNG. The investment also includes construction of state-of-the-art fueling facilities throughout the South. Groundbreaking for Waste Pro's first CNG refilling station facility in Fort Pierce, Fla., is scheduled for today. Waste Pro has partnered with Clean Energy to design and construct the Fort Pierce complex.