As part of an ongoing commitment to environmental protection, Tacoma started using a blend of diesel fuel and biodiesel—a product made from soybean oil—in its entire diesel fleet in mid-November of 2001. This fleet includes 85 garbage and recycling trucks. Tacoma is the first city in the Pacific Northwest to commit an entire fleet to biodiesel use.

“The City of Tacoma is an environmental leader in our area,” said Linda Graham of the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition. “We’re hoping that the City of Tacoma’s commitment to using biodiesel will help spark other communities’ interest in the earth-friendly fuel and help expand the biodiesel market to private fleets as well.”

“We’ve explored alternative fuels for quite some time, but most of the options cost too much to implement,” said Steve Hennessey, Fleet manager. “Using biodiesel means we can do the environmentally-right thing without spending a lot of money.”

Since the change to biodiesel, Tacoma’s garbage and recycling trucks have helped create cleaner air by emitting fewer harmful pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and hydrocarbons.  In addition, the alternative fuel has not impacted the performance of the trucks and maintenance crews have not run into any mechanical problems because of its use.

“The City is looking into increasing the number of trucks that use biodiesel,” Hennessey said. “The cost is minimally higher, but it’s well worth it considering the benefits to the environment.”

City of Tacoma honored with National Partner Award  In 2002, the Department of Energy awarded the City of Tacoma its  National Partner Award, an award that recognizes companies, government entities and individuals that have made significant, long-term contributions to advancing the use of alternative fuels in cars and trucks.

For more information, contact Steve Hennessey, Fleet Manager for the City of Tacoma at (253) 591-5553.