Electric residential waste collection truck launched in New Zealand

Christchurch is putting a 100% electric residential waste collection truck into service.

Waste Management NZ’s electric truck has been designed and dedicated to collecting residential wheelie bins from the kerbside. It will start work on New Zealand streets from October, with more electric trucks set to arrive into the company’s fleet in other New Zealand cities towards the end of the year.

Waste Management has already introduced more than 20 electric cars within its light fleet. It also launched an electric box body truck, which collects food waste from Countdown supermarkets across Auckland, in May this year.

“With a large fleet of trucks and cars on the road, we believe we can help safeguard our environment for future generations through the adoption of electric vehicle technology,” said Waste Management Managing Director Tom Nickels. “I am delighted we’re bringing this strategy to life by rolling out electric trucks across New Zealand.”

Waste Management’s move to electric vehicles is also an example of the circular economy in action, with all waste taken to the company’s sustainable landfill and energy parks used to generate electricity. Waste Management’s landfill technology holds all waste in a sealed environment, meaning it can capture the naturally emitted gas from the waste as it digests anaerobically — which is then fed into generators to create power. Up to 95% of gas emissions is captured through this process, putting enough power back into the national grid to power 18,000 homes nationally.

Initial calculations suggest collecting waste in the new electric truck from 1200–1500 homes per day will fill the truck to its 16-tonne capacity. The gas produced by that waste will produce approximately 6000 kWh of electricity — enough energy to run the truck with the additional power to run 275 homes for one day.