Kirstin Davis, Communications Manager, No Phone Number Available
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 8 a.m.
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:
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!
| Avg. 2025 Diesel Price |
Est. 2025 Diesel Cost |
Actual 2025 RNG Cost |
Actual 2025 Savings |
| $3.93 per gallon | $2.07 million | $760,000 | $1.1 million |
| Current* Diesel Price |
Est. 2026* Diesel Cost |
Est. 2026* RNG Fuel Cost |
Est. 2026* Savings |
| $6.36 per gallon | $3.36 million | $760,000 | $2.6 million |
*Based on $6.36 per gallon price in May 2026.
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.
Renewable Natural Gas, known as RNG is also primarily methane that comes from above-ground renewable sources such as landfills, wastewater treatment plants, dairy farms, and food waste digesters. The gas is captured, cleaned to pipeline quality, and then used the same way as CNG. Once RNG is processed, CNG and RNG are chemically very similar.
Operationally, the trucks fuel and perform much like traditional gas vehicles, but the environmental impact is dramatically different. Instead of allowing methane emissions to enter the atmosphere, the City is helping convert waste gas into a usable transportation fuel and reducing the cost for solid waste management services.
Over the last decade, the City of Spokane has been strategically transforming the way Solid Waste Collections fuels its fleet. What started as a transition away from diesel-powered garbage trucks has evolved into one of the region’s largest municipal Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) programs to collect garbage, recycling, and organic materials. In April, the City expanded its CNG fueling station to support up to 100 trucks.
The investment in natural gas fuel sources gives the City of Spokane the ability to operate essentially its entire Solid Waste Collections fleet on RNG during normal operations. Solid Waste Collections currently serves as the primary user of the fueling infrastructure, but the expanded capacity may create opportunities for additional City departments to utilize the system in the future.
In comparison to 2015, the fleet now burns approximately 77% less diesel fuel. This fuel option delivers cleaner operations, less noise, more stable fuel costs, and millions of dollars in savings for ratepayers.
As fuel prices continue to fluctuate, the City’s RNG fleet demonstrates that sustainability investments can also make strong financial sense. RNG helps stabilize fuel costs and shields ratepayers from volatile diesel price spikes, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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