Malvern Hills District Council will soon be replacing diesel with Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) in five of its waste and street cleaning fleet.
The switch from diesel to HVO will reduce carbon emissions in each vehicle by 90% and forms part of the council’s ambition to be net-zero carbon by 2030.
The council’s strategy to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Destination Zero, includes an action to ‘move the waste collection fleet to net-zero vehicles by 2030 and make all the council’s non-waste fleet electric or net-zero emissions by the same date’.
HVO is a synthetically made fuel, which can be used as a replacement for diesel fuel. Created through the hydrotreating of sustainably sourced, waste vegetable oils, it has an identical chemical composition to fossil-based diesel.
Whilst HVO can be used as a direct replacement for diesel in many existing engines, it is more expensive and is currently 50p per litre more expensive than diesel. Therefore, the Council has approved an additional annual budget of £46,000 to enable a trial of this fuel in five of the council’s fleet of vehicles.
Cllr Beverley Nielsen, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services at Malvern Hills District Council Said: “HVO has been identified as a viable alternative that will significantly reduce emissions in the short-term without the need to purchase new or modify existing vehicles. This investment alone will reduce the council’s total carbon emissions by 13% or over 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
“We will also continue to explore the best alternative fuels and energy sources to determine what will be most beneficial for the fleet, and carbon emissions in the longer-term. It is a real positive step forward and will make a considerable contribution towards our aim to be carbon net-zero by 2030.”
Pictured: Cllr Beverley Nielsen, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, and Alex Bill, Operations Manager, with the Malvern Hills District Council waste team.
