Westminster City Council has invested £20 million in 45 new Dennis Eagle zero emission refuse trucks that will be powered by the waste they collect.
Many of the vehicles will be based and charged at a fully electric depot near Bermondsey, which draws electric power from an adjacent energy recovery facility – itself powered by the waste collected from homes and businesses in Westminster.
Truck operator Veolia had procured, designed and now operates the new depot that can charge 54 vehicles simultaneously.
The adject site, South East London Combined Heat and Power facility, provides the truck depot with 3.3GWh of electricity per year via private wire connection.
Westminster City Council’s fleet completes 50 million collections every year, with each electric vehicle saving up to 89% CO2e compared with a diesel-powered fleet.
The council will gradually replace its entire 80-strong truck fleet in the biggest decarbonisation programme of its kind by a UK local authority.
Its fleet also currently includes 90 electric street cleaning vehicles, ranging from e-bikes to e-sweepers.
Pascal Hauret, Managing Director of Veolia UK Municipal, said: “Using the waste we collect to power the electric fleet is an exciting innovation because that creates a local loop of energy, using local resources to run local services.
“I’m incredibly proud of the solutions Veolia and Westminster are pioneering together to build the sustainable municipal services we need, now and in the future.”
