As fuel prices soar, the City of Spokane’s Solid Waste Collections department is realizing millions of dollars in cost savings thanks to its adoption of compressed and renewable natural gas fuel for its fleet of collection trucks.
In 2025 alone, use of natural gas fuel saved solid waste ratepayers $1.3 million! Here’s the math:
- The City’s renewable natural gas cost for solid waste collections trucks was $1.3 million.
- Additionally, the City received renewable fuel credits since we used “renewable” natural gas, which reduced costs further to $760,000.
- If the City had used diesel trucks instead, it would have paid an average diesel price of $3.93 per gallon in 2025 for an annual cost of about $2.07 million for the 527,000 gallons that would have been needed.
At current* diesel prices of $6.36 per gallon, we are saving even more. Annual costs at that price for diesel would be roughly $3.36 million, bringing the total savings to as much as $2.6 million!
*Based on $6.36 per gallon price in May 2026.
What is natural gas fuel?
Compressed Natural Gas, referred to as CNG, is typically conventional fossil natural gas that comes from underground gas wells. It is compressed and used as a vehicle fuel, commonly in refuse trucks, buses, and fleet vehicles…