May 23, 2021. One Irish company on a journey to a more sustainable compressed natural gas (CNG) fleet is the award-winning Meath-based Food Surplus Management (FSM), which currently has three Scania CNG trucks and plans to move its entire fleet of 35 trucks to this eco-friendly alternative fuel source.
FSM is the market leader in the collection and processing of short-dated and surplus food from the country’s leading retail outlets and the hospitality industry, delivering the most hygienic and sustainable food waste collection service throughout in Ireland.
A proven and reliable alternative to diesel or petrol, particularly for long haul heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and buses, CNG also offers cost savings of up to 35%. To encourage Ireland’s fleet operators and hauliers to take advantage of these additional cost savings and choose this cleaner fuel option for their vehicles, Gas Networks Ireland has launched a CNG Vehicle Grant Scheme which provides grants of up to €5,000 for new CNG vehicles, up to maximum of €60,000 per business.
FSM Managing Director, Niall Lord, said the use of CNG vehicles is part of the company’s sustainability goals: “Sustainability is at the heart of what we do. The entire ethos of our business is to take surplus products and provide a service that is not only more cost-effective than composting and landfill but is also the most environmentally sustainable method of handling food,” Lord said.
“Incorporating CNG trucks as part of our fleet was a natural progression for FSM, allowing us to take responsibility for our own carbon footprint as well as our customers. It also showcases this commitment to our customers from a corporate social responsibility perspective.”
FSM’s fleet of CNG vehicles operate across Ireland and recover 95% of all food collected for renewable gas production and 5% for other sustainable industries.
Food collected by FSM is de-packed, bulked together and transferred by FSM for processing in anaerobic digestion plants, which convert the food waste into a sustainable, carbon neutral, renewable gas known as biomethane, which is structurally identical to natural gas and fully compatible with existing gas infrastructure, technology and vehicles.
