A North American company has chosen Hambden Township as a central location for an operation that is committed to making the country’s future a greener and healthier place.
A North American company has chosen Hambden Township as a central location for an operation that is committed to making the country’s future a greener and healthier place.
“The new facility is providing benefits to the communities we service by allowing us to use cleaner and quieter vehicles, but the building itself was built with conservation in mind, with energy efficient lighting, insulation and heating systems to also conserve resources,” said Chris Semrock, Waste Management’s new senior district manager in Hambden Township. “Our location in Hambden Township is a good fit for our operation (and) a central location for our service areas of Geauga, Lake and Ashtabula counties. (It also has) easy access to state routes for our vehicles to travel to their respective service areas.”
Waste Management is a leading provider of integrated environmental solutions in North America and is aims to provide eco-friendlier services to Geauga County as well as to the providers it serves in 114 operational sites and 25 public fueling stations.
The Chardon-area hauling site is located at 9954 Old State Road and is estimated — by running on compressed natural gas, a.k.a. CNG, rather than diesel fuel — to save 288,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 504 metric tons of greenhouse gases over the next year, said Bill Skidmore, retiring Waste Management senior district manager.
“That’s the equivalent of a 15 percent emissions reduction on each and every WM collection truck at the facility,” he said, adding it is the right thing to do.
“WM wants to help make the communities it serves better places to work and live, and creating fewer tons of greenhouse gases is a way to do that,” Skidmore said. “It’ s also better for our company. “
Waste Management operates the largest trucking fleet in the waste industry, collecting over 80 million tons of solid waste each year as it serves more than 20 million customers. It has the largest number of landfills in the industry — 293 — and is the largest collector of recyclable materials from businesses and households in the U.S. and Canada, Skidmore said.
The collection trucks running on CNG emit nearly zero particulate emissions, are quieter and easier to maintain, he said.
The new Hambden facility can fuel 56 CNG collection trucks overnight, with the ability to expand to 72. It currently has 20 CNG vehicles on site, Skidmore added.
The gas is supplied by Dominion Energy Ohio and compressed at the Hambden site, where more than 70 people work, including some who have been with Waste Management for more than 20 years.
Semrock has been with the company for 28 years, starting as a maintenance technician and a driver for about 12 years before moving into management. Prior to moving to Geauga County, he was responsible for hauling operations in Lima, Canton, Wooster and Youngstown.
“My wife and I look forward to living in this beautiful and snowy part of Ohio,” Semrock said.
The new site has a main dedicated gas line that goes to two CNG compressors, which work in tandem to fuel vehicles overnight, Skidmore said.
Each truck has an assigned parking spot and a dedicated fueling line that gets connected to the vehicle at the end of the day. While the vehicle is parked, the fuel tanks are slowly filled overnight. There is also an ability to fast fuel a vehicle if necessary throughout the day, he added.
“Locally, we plan to have our entire fleet converted to CNG within the next two years,” Skidmore said. “The company itself is also looking at other hybrid types of equipment not only on our route vehicles, but also with the heavy iron equipment that works at our disposal locations.”
An operation in California has its own processing plant onsite and converts methane produced by the landfill into clean burning fuel to power their route vehicles in that area.
“I believe this investment in the new facility and vehicles shows Waste Management’s commitment to this community and we have over 80 employees dedicated to servicing this areas that we all call home,” Skidmore said. “We have a great and long-lasting relationship with Hambden Fire Chief and Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand, and letting the Hambden Fire Department train at the new (Hambden) CNG facility is a win for both of us. The firefighters become familiar with the setup and firefighting requirements of our new CNG refueling facility, and WM strengthens its partnership with the fire department.”
“We had some very good training about the facility and how it operates,” Hildenbrand said. “We also learned about the CNG trucks and the safety procedures. We learned how to fight a fire should one of the trucks catch fire. We also invited many other fire departments in Geauga County as well as Lake County as these trucks will be traveling all over.”