Kingston put its first two battery-electric garbage trucks on the road in July 2025, and the city says they are delivering quieter, cleaner waste collection without the winter hiccups some had feared. The two Mack LR Electric side-loading trucks have been serving local routes five days a week since then, their purchase helped by a $500,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund.
“Through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund, the City received $500,000 to support the purchase,” the city confirmed when it marked the milestone at a celebration event on June 16, 2026. The trucks themselves came from Kingston’s own Surgenor Truck Group, and their bodies were built in Canada by LaBrie Environmental Group of Lévis, Quebec.
The trucks represent a first for Ontario: Kingston is the only municipality in the province where city crews are operating battery-electric refuse trucks. Staff who work with them daily say the vehicles have held up through a full year, including winter. “He praised their reliability, noting that even during winter, there were no significant issues and the trucks showed no noticeable battery degradation despite initial concerns from staff,” operations manager Adam Mueller said of the crew’s experience.
The push toward electric waste collection fits into a bigger climate picture at City Hall. Kingston’s climate goals call for trimming greenhouse gas emissions from municipal operations by 30 per cent by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2040. FCM President Tim Tierney said other municipalities will be watching. “Out of 2,200 member municipalities across the entire country that FCM represents, and I have the privilege of being president of, people are going to look at Kingston as an example of what they can do in their own municipalities,” he said.
For residents on the routes served by the two trucks, the change means collection days are noticeably quieter, and tailpipe emissions at the curb have disappeared. The city has not announced additional electric truck purchases yet, but officials say the quiet performance and reliability of the first two are building confidence for the future.
