Rother's waste fleet could switch to vehicles using more environmentally-friendly fuels

On Monday (February 27), the council’s cabinet signed off on in-principle plans to move its contractor’s waste vehicles to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) instead of diesel — a move which would be expected to cut carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent.

The new fuel would not require the purchase of any new vehicles or any modifications to the existing waste fleet, but would be significantly more expensive per litre than diesel at the present time.

Cllr Susan Prochak, Liberal Democrat cabinet member for environment, said: “It would reduce carbon production by 858 kilos. Not only would it reduce that, it would also reduce the toxic emissions — nitrogen oxide, fine particulates — that actually cause pollution and pollution kills one in twenty people.”

She added: “It is the cleanest fuel alternative. There is no loss of power or mileage, it has a longer storage life, it was better performance on the vehicles they tried, particularly in cold weather and there were no vehicle modifications needed.

“So if you wanted more evidence this was a no brainer, it is there in the report.”

Despite support from cabinet members, the new fuel would be significantly more expensive than diesel — expected to increase the council’s waste contract costs by at least £218,000 per annum.

While cabinet members authorised officers to find “service-related savings” that can partially or fully offset this cost in future, these savings would not come in time for the upcoming 2023/24 financial year.

This means a switch to HVO is unlikely to come to fruition until after April 2024 at the absolute earliest. It also means the change will need to have the support of the council’s new administration after this year’s local elections.

Due to a quirk of how waste services are provided in East Sussex, Rother’s move to HVO will also rely on buy-in from neighbouring Hastings Borough Council (and vice versa).

This is because Rother’s waste collection service — together with Hastings and Wealden District Council — is provided through a joint contract with the commercial waste management company Biffa.