Garbage Goes Green
By Andrzej Sienko
Nassau News Staff Writer
Few people would think of garbage trucks as ecological or cutting edge. At best, they are a nuisance, with the whine of hydraulics and crashing metal in the morning. At worst they embody the waste we produce.
Now that perception may change, at least in the Town of Hempstead, where the sanitation department prepares to switch its fleet to hybrid plug-in technology.
“This offers a tremendous advantage. It’s the first of its kind,” Assistant City Commissioner Dominick Longobardi said in an interview.
Odyne previously provided Hempstead with hybrid electric buses and is now responsible with retrofitting the garbage trucks. Odyne is taking part in a three-month trial phase for the first truck. Longobardi said Odyne is continually checking and upgrading the new hybrid systems, already replacing them twice.
There is little new about the truck itself; it’s actually an old New York City garbage truck, bought at auction for about $12,000, Longobardi said. This is a huge discount over the $140,000 original price tag, permitting more funds for the hybrid system.
Like Toyota’s Prius, the truck has an additional electric motor, getting power from otherwise unused sources. Odyne believes up to 50% of energy lost during breaking can be saved. The truck can also be “plugged in” to a power source, to replenish its batteries. What this means is less use of the diesel engine, resulting in what town officials hope will be fewer harmful emissions and better fuel economy for Hempstead’s sanitation fleet. “This will help displace our reliance on foreign fuel,” said Longobardi.
The Greater Long Island Cleaner Cities Coalition is a crucial partner in the program, awarding a $324,800 grant for funding in 2005. The Coalition, partly founded by the Town of Hempstead, wants to “expand the use of alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuel” on Long Island. It secured state funding from the Energy Research and Development Authority for five of the hybrid refuse trucks.
Kate Murray promoted the program as part of her “environmental legacy” during the November local elections. The Town of Hempstead had initiated many other alternative fuel and hybrid programs, including acquiring 77 “GEM” electric cars and retrofitting patrol cars to natural gas. A growing number of Hempstead’s Sanitation vehicles are already hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles.
The fate of Hempstead’s remaining 120 garbage trucks remains uncertain. Longobardi said retrofitting New York City trucks bought at auction is easier and cheaper, since, “their parts have another seven year lifespan.”
Officials hope that by February, Long Island’s first hybrid garbage truck will be ready to do the dirty work while keeping clean.
