Republic Services’ fleet in Baton Rouge, La., has been awarded Louisiana Clean Fuels’ Fleet of the Year Award, the waste management company announced. Republic's Baton Rouge collection company, BFI Waste Services, LLC, received the award for its compressed natural gas (CNG) fleet expansion and petroleum reductions in 2014.

Republic launched 42 CNG-powered collection trucks and installed a new natural gas fueling station to support its Baton Rouge fleet in 2014. Republic plans to deploy 18 additional CNG trucks in the fleet this summer, according to the company.

The carbon emissions reduction benefits from Republic's CNG fleet in Baton Rouge is expected by the end of the summer to be equivalent to planting more than 36,000 mature trees annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Republic Services operates a fleet of more than 2,200 CNG vehicles and 36 natural gas fueling stations nationwide. Republic's CNG fleet helps to save roughly 18 million gallons of diesel fuel annually, and it is the operator of the eighth-largest vocational fleet in the U.S., according to the company.

The company’s Baton Rouge fleet employs 215 people and operates 110 collection routes each day. It serves more than 167,000 residential and 4,100 commercial customers throughout the region.