Penske Truck Leasing Honored with 2013 U.S. EPA SmartWay Affiliate Challenge Award

READING, Pa., April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Penske Truck Leasing has been named a 2013 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay Affiliate Challenge Award winner. As one of seven organizations nationwide to win this award, Penske is the only transportation company to receive this honor.

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"We are proud of our partnership with SmartWay and we're very pleased to win this award," said Drew Cullen, Penske Truck Leasing Vice President of Fuels and Telecommunications. "We take pride in assisting our customers with becoming more sustainable while incorporating best practices within our own truck rental, truck leasing and logistics operations."

The SmartWay Affiliate Challenge is a national challenge developed by EPA to acknowledge SmartWay Affiliates that have initiated and executed exceptional recruiting, promotional and marketing activities in support of the EPA's goals to reduce truck emissions and improve freight efficiency.

The challenge was open to all SmartWay Affiliates. Participating organizations submitted an application and supporting materials describing various activities they accomplished during the period of March 1, 2012 to March 1, 2013. There were several ways that Penske promoted the SmartWay Transport Partnership:

• The hosting of educational events for customers via webinars and one-on-one education, strategy and recruiting sessions
• Attending and presenting at sustainability conferences and college symposiums
• Ongoing recruiting of customers to join SmartWay
• Assisting customers with the completion of the program's Truck Carrier FLEET models and helping them to establish Miles Per Gallon (MPG) and emissions benchmarking that correlate with SmartWay Carrier Performance Rankings

"I commend Penske for promoting sustainable transportation to their members through the SmartWay Transport Partnership," said Christopher Grundler, Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, EPA. "The level of commitment, enthusiasm and creativity demonstrated by this year's honorees are helping us achieve our mutual goals for cleaner air and a more sustainable transportation supply chain."

The Penske organization demonstrates a strong commitment to SmartWay. Penske Truck Leasing and Penske Truck Rental are both SmartWay affiliate partners. Penske Logistics is both a trucking carrier partner and a logistics partner in the program.

EPA launched SmartWay in 2004 to help business improve the sustainability of their freight supply chains. Today the Partnership consists of nearly 3,000 Partners, representing a cross section of the freight supply chain industry. As of today, SmartWay Partners have saved 65 million barrels of oil. This is equivalent to taking over 5 million cars off the road for an entire year. SmartWay's clean air achievements (28 million metric tons of carbon dioxide so far) help protect the health and well-being of citizens while contributing to our nation's economic and energy security. More information on SmartWay in general: http://www.epa.gov/smartway/  

Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P., headquartered in Reading, Pa., is a joint venture of Penske Corporation, Penske Automotive Group and General Electric Capital Corporation. A leading global transportation services provider, Penske operates more than 200,000 vehicles and serves customers from more than 1,000 locations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Product lines include full-service truck leasing, contract maintenance, commercial and consumer truck rentals, used truck sales, transportation and warehousing management and supply chain management solutions. To learn more about Penske's products and services please visit http://www.GoPenske.com and our "Move Ahead" blog. Penske on social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube.

SOURCE Penske Truck Leasing