NYC Begins Diesel Pilot Project for Sanitation Trucks

Danielle Jackson

New York -- The New York City Department of Sanitation has begun a pilot project with Columbus, Ind.-based Cummins Inc. and the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) to test the performance of diesel emission control technology on sanitation vehicles.

The project plans to retrofit approximately 290 sanitation trucks in the next three years with diesel particulate filters to reduce particulate emissions by up to 90 percent. The Department of Sanitation also has acquired four compressed natural gas street sweepers for the project.

While diesel particulate filters are commercially available for higher exhaust temperature applications such as those for city buses, the technology is new for low exhaust temperature applications such as those for sanitation vehicles.

Four trucks will be piloted and will undergo performance and emissions testing throughout the winter to determine the project's effectiveness.