Council switches from diesel to HVO refuse trucks

Perth and Kinross Council, in line with its commitment to respond to the climate emergency affecting the county and Scotland as a whole, switched its diesel refuse trucks to use Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).

HVO is made from renewable aware and residue derived feedstocks, and can cut carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent. This makes it a simple, readily available fuel source that can be used instead of traditional fossil fuels with minimum changes required to infrastructure and equipment.

Perth and Kinross Council launched a six-month trial with six refuse collection lorries using HVO instead, and the council noticed a significant reduction in carbon emissions. 87 tonnes of carbon dioxide were saved.

Consequently, 18 more bin lorries were swapped to use HVO, which commenced in February 2025, which is set to save around 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

The Council’s Fleet Manager, Pat Taggart explains: “The aim for us is to eventually have all our operational depots with bin lorries running on HVO, as part of our wider decarbonisation strategy. 

“Our experience to date has been a very positive one not only in the reduction of CO2 emissions from our fleet but also in the practicalities of changing over to HVO – we have not seen any adverse effects on our vehicles such as ad-hoc engine repairs, and the process of running down our diesel supply and moving to the new fuel has been straightforward. 

“I’m really pleased that we can do our part to support the circular economy by using waste materials and run our fleet on a certified clean fuel.”