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In two to three years, your streetside garbage pick-up in the City of Grand Marais will most likely be made with an electric-powered garbage truck. That’s the hope for the owners of North Shore Waste, who unveiled a very ambitious business plan last Monday.
Sometimes you look to the past to see the future. For example, when vehicles were first built, they ran on electricity. Then combustible engines made operating those vehicles impractical, but now the proverbial shoe is on the other foot, and the world has returned to the concept of electric-powered engines.
That concept has sparked the interest of the owners of North Shore Waste.
“Our number one expense is the cost of fuel, and fuel costs have doubled in the last 12 to 24 months,” said Dustin Hanson, adding that the company spends on average $1,200 a day on fuel to operate its garbage hauling business. With about 500 residential customers and 150 or so business customers, Hanson said the company must make changes to remain viable.
Hanson and business partner Barry Pederson unveiled an ambitious multi-stage business plan on Monday, September 19, to the media and local government officials. Helping Hanson and Pederson was NSW spokesperson Rena Rogers, who introduced the Cook County Solid Waste Improvement Program to the 30-40 people on hand last Monday.
Rogers said the Cook County Solid Waste Improvement Program is a five year multi-phase program that “will dramatically improve the efficiency and environmental impact of Cook County’s waste processing facilities and operations. To accomplish this goal, North Shore Waste plans to utilize solar energy and electric vehicles to power their work in the future – mitigating the impact of rising fuel costs on Cook County residents and businesses while reducing the environmental impact of current operations.”
Stage 1 is building a 24,000-square-foot transfer station powered by solar panels. Hopes are to break ground on that building as soon as next summer.
The second stage involves reducing 20 percent of the area’s solid waste by creating a commercial compost. Then, instead of hauling that solid waste to a Duluth landfill, that product will stay in the county and create black dirt, which is like gold in a county filled with rocks and thin top soils.
The third phase is to transition NSW garbage hauling trucks to electric vehicles that operate off the power created by the solar panels on the transfer station.
Those steps will not only make the business more sustainable, but they will also help clean up the environment said Hanson.
On hand during the presentation was Steven Waller from Nuss Truck & Equipment. Waller sells Mack LR Electric garbage trucks, and he had one for the public to see. Unfortunately, plans to pick up garbage in town with the Mac LR Electric truck were cancelled when the vehicle transferring the truck to Grand Marais broke down earlier in the day.
When will NSW purchase a Mack LR Electric-powered garbage truck?
That might be two to three years away, Hanson said. “The battery life is improving rapidly, so we will watch and wait to see further improvements,” Hanson added that the company might first purchase an electric-powered pick-up for smaller garbage hauls in town.
How will battery-powered garbage trucks hold up when its -30F outside? That’s unknown at this time but the battery life is improving dramatically. Waller said in the last 90 days the batteries have been significantly upgraded. Plus, the plan is to keep the trucks inside the transfer station, which should help extend the life of the vehicles and batteries.
Currently, about 75 Mack LR Electric vehicles are picking up waste in the country said Waller.
A big test was done in New York City, where Mack LR Electric’s proved they could handle large workloads, Waller said, adding that some of those garbage trucks were equipped with snow plows.
The vehicles get, on average, about 150 miles of travel before they need to be re-charged, and that takes about eight hours.
Mack LR Electric trucks are assembled in Lehigh Valley Operations in Macungie, Pennsylvania. The company uses an electric powertrain from Volvo Group, which has been installed in electric-powered buses for some time. And speaking of Volvo, Waller said the company helps to fund and develop facilities like the one planned by North Shore Waste.
Dustin said if all goes right, this multi-phased plan should keep North Shore Waste sustainable for the next half century and longer.
“We have been talking about doing this for the last five years,” Hanson said. “We put together a group of people to help us get this done and we need everyone to help to us get this project off the ground.”
What is the cost of all of this? Hansen said it is unknown, but expenses will be in the millions, and the NSW will pursue grants and tax breaks from the government to help pay for the first step, building the transfer station. Plus, Hanson said the savings on fuel will be tremendous, and those savings will be used to help pay for the improvements.
For now, the company will operate as they have been, but continue to build for the future, one that’s electric.
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