The addition of two new fully electric recycling trucks to the Forest of Dean District Council’s waste fleet could lead the way for more local authorities to adopt battery power to make cleaner and greener kerbside collections in the future.

Making their district debut last week, the two zero-emission RQ-E Romaquips are the first battery powered heavy-weight kerbside-sort vehicles to be used in Gloucestershire to undertake collections from households. 

Kerbside-sort is a method of recycling whereby the householder pre-sorts their materials, typically into a box or bag, before crews collect. This way of making collections helps eliminate any materials that could cause contamination and consequently reduce the quality and value of the items being collected.  

While many urban councils have begun switching to electric and other low-emission vehicles, the District Council believes it is among the first rural authorities in England to embrace the heavy-fleet technology for kerbside-sort recycling following a successful trial last year.  

The trial was supported by the Council’s new waste service partner, Ubico. 

Councillor Andy Moore, Portfolio Holder for Waste and Recycling at Forest of Dean District Council, said: “The arrival of the two electric vehicles represents a major milestone for waste collections in the district and in Gloucestershire. Moving to zero-emission vehicles is key to reducing the carbon footprint of the services we provide and while some Gloucestershire authorities are using battery powered vehicles to support their wider waste and street cleansing functions, we are delighted that these vehicles are the very first in the county to be used to make collections from the kerbside.”  

Councillor Chris McFarling, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency at the Council, said: “Transport is by far the biggest contributor to the Council’s own carbon emissions, accounting for almost 90 per cent, most of which can be attributed to our waste, recycling, and street cleansing services. 

“These new vehicles mark the start of our plans to move more of our fleet over to zero and low-emission alternatives. Their arrival will not only have a positive impact here in the district, helping us to cut emissions and improve air quality, but we hope they will act as a catalyst for other rural authorities that are looking to make the leap to large electric vehicles for their household collections.” 

Each vehicle is expected to save close to 30 tonnes of CO2e annually. Thirty tonnes of CO2e is roughly equivalent to the emissions produced by a passenger flying 15 round trips from London's Heathrow to New York’s JFK airport.

Ian Bourton, Head of Fleet Operations at Ubico, said: “Ubico has been instrumental in bringing in new vehicle technologies across our partner councils and we are very proud of the launch of these unique type of electric vehicles that emit zero tailpipe emissions but will still deliver first class kerbside-sort recycling collections for the Forest of Dean District Council.” 

Forest of Dean councillors recently approved a new route map for decarbonising its fleet as part of its plans to reach net-zero by 2030. The strategy covers the vehicles used as part of the authority’s waste and recycling and street cleansing services.  

Emissions in the air are not only bad for the environment, speeding up climate change, but poor air quality has a proven negative effect on people’s health.