County's first plug-in recycling trucks launched

The new trucks emit zero tailpipe emissions

Gloucestershire's first plug-in electric recycling vehicles, which will collect rubbish from residents' kerbsides, have been launched.

Two new fully electric trucks were added to the Forest of Dean District Council's waste fleet this week.

The council believes it is among the first rural authorities in England to adopt the vehicles for kerbside recycling.

Cabinet member for climate emergency Chris McFarling said: These new vehicles mark the start of our plans to move more of our fleet over to zero and low-emission alternatives."

"Transport is by far the biggest contributor to the council’s own carbon emissions, accounting for almost 90%, most of which can be attributed to our waste, recycling, and street cleansing services," he added.

Each vehicle is expected to save close to 30 tonnes of CO2 annually, roughly equivalent to the emissions produced by a passenger flying 15 round trips from London to New York.

Councillors recently approved a new map for decarbonising its fleet, as part of its plans to reach net zero by 2030.

What is climate change?

Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather conditions.

Over the last decade, the world was on average around 1.2C warmer than during the late 19th Century.

It has now been confirmed that global warming exceeded 1.5C across the 12 month period between February 2023 and January 2024. That followed 2023 being declared the warmest year on record.

The temperature increase was driven by human-caused climate change and boosted by the natural El Niño weather phenomenon.