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Marshall's school buses will be a little more greener this fall.

Southwest Coaches started making 20 of its school buses more environmentally friendly through a statewide voluntary collaboration of nonprofit organizations, government agencies and businesses called "Project Green Fleet."

The project provides school districts and fleet owners with Environmental Protection Agency-approved filters and catalyst mufflers that decrease emissions from diesel bus engines.

"The catalyst mufflers reduce emissions by 50 percent," Tom Hey of Southwest Coaches said. "It provides a safer environment for the kids," Hey said. "It's such a positive thing we can do."

Hey said he's glad Southwest is doing its part to help save the planet.

"If we can do something to help the environment and be able to still operate and function the way we have been, we're able to help," Hey said. "If it makes the bus cleaner and saves the environment, we're doing our part."

"It's a win all the way around, how can you go wrong?" Hey added.

The retrofits are of no charge to school districts and fleet owners. The project determines the parts for the bus, orders the equipment and arranges the installation.

Hey said the new catalyst removes particulates from the air.

"It's recycling the oil, so there is no outside breather tube that's dripping oil," Hey said.

In the last two years, almost 1,000 buses across the state have been retrofitted through Project Green Fleet. Hey said he's contacted other school bus companies that have taken part in the Project Green Fleet effort, and it's been running well. Other participating fleets include Voyageur Bus Company, St. Louis Park Transportation and Paynesville Motor.

"It's a learning curve," Hey said. "When they get the process up and going, it's doing what they said it would."

Hey said the plan is to complete the retrofits by the beginning of the school year.