Finnish food firm Valio rolled out a new biogas-powered milk truck to transport milk to its Riihimäki and Jyväskylä dairies at the beginning of May 2024.
The initiative aligns with Valio's goal to cut the carbon footprint of milk to zero by 2035, the company added.
The new truck will help the company reduce emissions by 85% compared to a diesel-powered collection truck.
Valio seeks to increase the number of milk collection trucks running on biogas as its distribution network develops.
'Circular Economy At Its Best'
Petteri Laine, head of logistics with responsibility for milk collection and transports at Valio, stated, “Using renewable biogas in transports is the circular economy at its best. The new biogas-powered collection truck is more powerful than previous biogas-powered trucks, and therefore it can collect and transport larger quantities of milk than the previous less powerful gas-powered trucks.
“The truck can take on as much as ca. 48 tonnes, i.e. on average, the milk from about 18 Valio’s dairy farms. Transporting more milk in a single load cuts costs and emissions.”
The new milk truck is fuelled by liquefied biogas (LBG) produced from industrial by-products and municipal waste, Valio added.
It collects milk from its farms in Hartola, Sysmä and Joutsa and travels about 800 kilometres a day. It is refuelled either in Jyväskylä or Lahti.
Currently, Valio operates six LBG-powered trucks for milk collection.
Fleet Expansion
The next batch of biogas-powered trucks for milk collection will hit the road this autumn and in early 2025.
Valio identified limited refuelling network as the main obstacle to a rapid increase in the number of biogas-powered vehicles.
The company will expand its LBG-powered fleet in due course as the network of refuelling stations expands.
In 2023, Valio’s milk collection trucks covered a total distance of 18.8 million kilometres. Out of this total, about 1.2 million kilometres were driven by biogas-powered trucks.
This helped in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from milk collection by around 750 tonnes during the year, which accounted for approximately 6% of its total milk collection emissions.
Laine added, “Optimising logistics, saving kilometres, and reducing emissions are part of the day-to-day work of Valio’s logistics, both in milk collection and distribution. In addition to reducing our own emissions, we are also helping our customers to achieve their emission reduction targets.
“Although transport accounts for only around 1.5% of the carbon footprint of the milk produced by Valio, reducing fossil emissions from logistics is important not only for Valio’s climate targets but also for those of Finland as a whole.”
