Rutland County Council launches new £2m waste vehicle fleet

Rutland County Council paid £2m to buy 10 new waste vehicles

A new £2m waste vehicle fleet has been launched in Rutland.

Eight 26-tonne refuse collection vehicles and the two 18-tonne split-body lorries started operation in the county in April.

Rutland County Council said the new fleet would help to "improve waste and recycling across the county".

The vehicles have replaced a fleet which was aging, leading to breakdowns and collection disruptions, the authority said.

Councillors approved the purchase of the new fleet of vehicles in September 2023, arguing that buying them new would be cheaper than leasing, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Cabinet member for environment, Christine Wise, said: "The investment into new vehicles has already made a significant improvement to the waste and recycling collection service and we hope that our residents are ultimately seeing this improvement too.

"We are aware that this is not a silver bullet and there will still be issues that we need to address in the future, particularly when it comes to implementing changes to national legislation that may affect how waste and recycling collections are carried out in the next two or three years.

"However, we are fully dedicated to continuing to deliver an effective and efficient service for all."