Waste Industries USA Inc. has opened a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in Durham, N.C.

The Raleigh, N.C.-based Waste Industries said in a news release that the company’s new Durham Branch station offers 31 filling points for the company’s 19 solid waste trucks and one service vehicle that operate with CNG. The facility cost $8 million and is the largest private CNG station in Durham County. Waste Industries said it has the largest CNG waste fleet in North Carolina.

 Those trucks will serve approximately 39,000 homes and businesses across the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle area.

The Durham project was developed along with Gainesville, Ga.-based Mansfield Energy, which provided the design and engineering, and Gastonia, N.C.-based PSNC Energy, which will provide Waste Industries with the CNG supply.

Waste Industries expects the station to help save more than 38 tons of greenhouse gas in the first year of operation. The solid waste company expects to save $2 per gallon on fuel in the near term.

 “For 42 years, Waste Industries has been a leader in the solid waste services industry,” said Ven Poole, Waste Industries CEO. “As part of our annual review of our carbon footprint and sustainability in 2011, we concluded that CNG had become a viable long-term, low-cost alternative to diesel fuel. We committed to begin conversion to CNG and decided to start with one of our largest branches. This will be one of several conversions we will complete in the coming years.”