Bin lorries to be fuelled by Italian cooking oil

One councillor questioned if the district would smell of fish and chips after the change

Bin lorries are set to be powered by Italian vegetable oil rather than diesel.

Cherwell District Council has decided to switch its fleet to the biofuel to reduce CO2 emissions by between 600 and 700 tonnes a year.

It said it would be using sustainable sources with the bulk of its supply to come from used cooking oil from Italy.

It is around 10% more expensive than diesel but more environmentally friendly and the councillor behind the plans said it allowed the authority to "significantly cut its carbon footprint at a stroke".

Green councillor Ian Middleton, who is in charge of Neighbourhood Services, said the ideal solution would be to switch to electric vehicles but that technology was not sufficient yet for the work bin lorries need to do.

He added: "There's no other practical option for our large HGVs, leaving us with the choice of continuing to burn heavily-emitting, climate-damaging fossil fuels, or switching to a more sustainable alternative in the short-term.

"Whilst this is not a perfect solution, we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is not currently made in Britain, so the authority will have to import it.

Cllr Middleton said the carbon implications of shipping the fuel from Europe were significantly lower than diesel, which typically comes from the Middle East.

At the meeting to decide whether to switch fuel, one councillor asked if there were "aromatic implications".

Cllr Middleton replied: "Not as far as I'm aware - I don't think our [vehicles] are going to go around smelling of fish and chips."