Waste Management of Illinois has dedicated the state's largest commercial compressed natural gas fueling facility in Stickney, Ill.

The facility has 55 "slow-fuel" stations for the company's growing CNG fleet of trucks. The company currently operates more than 30 CNG trucks in the Chicago area, and it will have more than 80 in the area by year end, making it Illinois' largest commercial CNG refuse truck fleet.

Trucks deployed from the facility are used on City of Chicago recycling collection routes that serve approximately 90,000 households, Chicago-area commercial routes and municipal collection routes in western suburbs. The Stickney facility is Waste Management's second in the Chicago area. Its Wheeling CNG site opened last May to serve Chicago's northern suburbs.

"As we strive to maintain a healthy environment for all citizens, the Illinois EPA welcomes Waste Management's contribution toward cleaner air," says IEPA Interim Director John Kim. "Compressed natural gas is cleaner burning than gasoline or diesel fuel, which means significantly less emissions of air pollutants."

The company's sustainability goals are to reduce its overall fleet emissions by 15% and increase its fuel efficiency by 15% by the year 2020.

Construction of the facility took about three months. The approximately 57,000-square-foot fueling site receives its natural gas from a NICOR gas main nearby. The site is equipped with dual compressors feeding gas to the fueling stations.

The facility includes a public, easy-access "Clean N' Green" retail station that is equipped with four "fast-fuel" pumps that can be used by individuals, companies or municipalities operating CNG vehicles. The unmanned retail facility will be operated by PetroCard for Waste Management.

The Waste Management trucks are fueled using a "slow-fill" procedure to improve efficiency, and they carry approximately 58 diesel equivalent gallons of CNG. The CNG trucks have a capacity to carry between 5 and 8 tons of material -- the same payload as traditional collection vehicles -- and can run 10 to 12 hours, completing a typical day's waste or recycling collection route.