The recycling company REMONDIS and the Westfalen Group are continuing to push climate protection in municipalities. The two companies are working together to use biogas – also known as bio-CNG – as an alternative fuel to make waste logistics in inner-city transport more environmentally friendly. With the inauguration of a new bio-CNG filling station in Coesfeld, Germany, the official go-ahead was given for the long-term cooperation between the two companies. At the public station (Dreischkamp 38), all commercially available trucks and cars can now fill up around the clock with non-fossil biogas produced from waste and residual materials. The start of the cooperation has already been reported here.
Pleased about the new bio-CNG filling station in Coesfeld (from left): Andre Stracke (Head of Mobility, Westfalen), Ulrike Fascher (Deputy Mayor of Coesfeld), Dipl.-Ing. Stefan Bölte (Managing Director, Wirtschaftsbetriebe Kreis Coesfeld) and Thorsten Feldt (Managing Director, REMONDIS Region West)
Green waste logistics
Bio-CNG brings a number of different advantages for the decarbonisation of the mobility sector: In addition to the very strong reduction of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide, almost the same amount of CO2 is already absorbed during production that is later emitted during combustion. The total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere thus remains constant through this cycle and does not increase. For the city of Coesfeld, the project represents another important contribution to climate protection, as deputy mayor Ulrike Fascher emphasised at the inauguration: “With the opening of the bio-CNG filling station, another building block is added for the city of Coesfeld, alongside wind power and photovoltaics, in order to promote the reduction of CO2 emissions and achieve the climate targets.”
Climate-friendly waste collection protects the environment and the economy
As part of the switch from diesel to low-carbon biogas, REMONDIS will increasingly use biogas-powered waste collection vehicles in the region, some of which have already been on the road in the Münsterland region since 2021. This plan is now also being underpinned by the newly built filling station. Thorsten Feldt, managing director of REMONDIS Region West, said: “There is no alternative to changing over to climate-friendly drives, but it also involves making large investments in vehicles and infrastructure. A model based on partnership such as the one here in the district of Coesfeld is a good way to successfully master this task for the future. With the conversion to bio-CNG, we can offer not only the citizens but also the commercial and industrial customers in the region a climate-friendly waste collection service.
With ranges of up to 800 km, bio-CNG is particularly suitable for light and heavy commercial vehicle fleets in local transport. The refuelling process hardly differs from refuelling with diesel and takes just as long. In this way, biogas forms an overall package from which the environment and the economy benefit equally: “Bio-CNG is an alternative fuel with which ecological and economic objectives can be very well harmonised,” explains Andre Stracke, head of mobility at Westfalen. “Due to local production, the effects of geopolitical price fluctuations, as we have often experienced in the past, are not as significant, so that the corresponding vehicles can be used economically in a plannable manner.”
Bio-CNG combines ecological and economic advantages and thus contributes to environmentally friendly mobility
„There is no alternative to converting to climate-friendly drives, but it also involves large investments in vehicles and infrastructure.“
Thorsten Feldt, Managing Director, REMONDIS Region West
Filling station in new brand design
In order to make its sustainability efforts more visible to the outside world, Westfalen Group has modernised its brand identity this year – which is also reflected in the newly built filling station.
Andre Stracke: “The bio-CNG filling station in Coesfeld is the first station with which we present ourselves in a new look. We want to enable future-proof mobility, which includes bio-CNG in addition to charging electricity, hydrogen and bio-LNG – and with a new, modern look.”
Image credits: Westfalen AG, Münster
