The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to reduce diesel emissions from the state’s garbage trucks. According to an EPA press release, the money will be used to retrofit at least 21 garbage trucks in the city of De Pere in Brown County and in the Milwaukee metropolitan area with equipment that will minimize diesel emissions.

"EPA and DNR are targeting these garbage trucks because they travel the city streets every day," said Mary A. Gade, EPA Region 5 Administrator, in the release. "While new diesel engines are cleaner-burning, we must act now to reduce emissions from the older engines that will be around for many years."

The grant is part of Region 5's Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative (MCDI), a collaboration of federal, state and local agencies, along with communities, non-profit organizations and private companies working together to reduce emissions from diesel engines in the Midwest. The organization estimates there are more than 3 million engines in the Midwest that would benefit from new pollution reduction technology.

For more information about MCDI, visit www.epa.gov/midwestcleandiesel.