A retrofit for Roundy’s: grocery retailer uses own money to retrofit Class 8 fleet vehicles with diesel oxidation catalysts
With the majority of emission retrofit funding directed toward municipalities, transit buses and school buses, most private truck fleets are not volunteering to purchase and install emission technology on their trucks. Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., a grocery retailer that operates 99 tractor trailers from its distribution centers in the upper Midwest, is using its own money to retrofit more than a quarter of its Class 8 truck fleet with diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC).
“We’re one of the first privately held Class 8 companies in the nation putting these on our trucks” said Russ Weber, corporate director of transportation for Roundy’s, Milwaukee, Wis. “We’re at the forefront of the environmental effort to reduce emissions. And while there is no funding that we’re aware of available statewide, we did it anyway.”
For Roundy’s, the DOC retrofit to its trucks was beneficial to its presence in the community. “By installing the DOCs we eliminated exhaust coming from our trucks” Weber said. “So not only is it good for Roundy’s but it is good for the communities in which our trucks run each day.”
Weber also said that if state or federal funding for retrofits was available, similar to grants that municipalities enjoy for school buses or city-owned vehicles, more privately head companies would be installing DOCs.
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