Scarborough Borough Council make changes to reduce carbon emissions

Scarborough Borough Council are aiming to cut fleet vehicle emissions by introducing a new fuel and an electric bin wagon.

The initiative is thought to be the biggest trial of an emissions-cutting new fuel in Yorkshire.

The fuel, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), is made from waste oils and fats and is being used instead of traditional diesel to power more than half of the vehicles based at the council’s Dean Road depot.

Over the course of the 12-month trial, almost 900,000kg of carbon dioxide will be saved from harming the environment as it will drastically reduce carbon emissions from the fleet by as much as 90 percent in some cases.

HVO fuel also means fewer particulates and nitrogen oxides.

As it is almost a like-for-like replacement of diesel, most vehicles can use it without any modification.

Dean Road’s vans, trucks and plant equipment currently consume 30,000 litres of diesel a month.

HVO has no odour and the fuel does not include any additives such as palm oil.

The council has also taken delivery of a fully electric bin wagon for a short-term trial from manufacturer Dennis Eagle.

Called the ‘eCollect’, the wagon is fitted with five packs of lithium-ion batteries which produce a combined 300KWh of power.

It fully charges overnight and in trials elsewhere in the country has worked double collection shifts with charge remaining in the battery.

Councillor Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, cabinet member for the environment and sustainability, said:

“The switch to HVO fuel means we will have one of the greenest vehicle fleets in the whole of North Yorkshire.

“Cutting harmful emissions by 90 per cent means we will take a huge step towards our goal to minimise the harmful affect our services have on our fragile environment.

“Our overall CO2 emissions are the lowest they have been for more than 15 years and should be driven down further because of this trial.

“I am also delighted that Dennis Eagle has lent us a pure-electric bin wagon to test in the borough.

“It will be interesting to see how the vehicle performs in a real-world setting, especially given the challenging geography in some parts of our borough.”