Starting in January, Commerce City will roll out a fully electric recycling and waste collection fleet, making it the largest Colorado city to adopt such a fleet, a city news release announced.

In partnership with Republic Services, Commerce City officials will roll out the first phase of the electric waste collection in January. By the end of next year, the city will have 14 new electric trash-collection vehicles.

The new electric trucks are expected to “significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower operational noise, and improve neighborhood air quality,” according to the city’s website.

Commerce City officials have made recent investments in EV infrastructure, including adding advanced charging stations to Republic Services’ Commerce City facility.

Trash collection is the ideal industry for electric vehicle use due to their short travel distances, frequent stops and starts and need to return to a home base each night, according to Republic Services’ website.

The collection company is making an effort to make half of new truck purchases EVs by 2028, according to its website.

Louisville, which neighbors Commerce City, was the first municipality in the nation to adopt a fully electric residential recycling and waste collection fleet, replacing its fleet with McNeilus Volterra EVs in 2024.

Commerce City’s spokesperson did not respond to The Denver Gazette’s inquiry into the cost of the new fleet or estimated savings for the city.