Westminster City Council have been named winner of the Circular Economy Success category at the Awards for Excellence, for their work to upcycle end of life waste and recycling diesel trucks to fully electric trucks.
Westminster council have been working alongside their contractors, Veolia to trial new and innovative sustainable waste collection fleet solutions.
The two 26 tonne collection vehicles previously ran on diesel and were reaching the end of their life. Instead of scrapping them, Westminster City Council and Veolia ‘upcycled’ them to as-new condition with new electric engines that will improve air quality and exceed the requirements of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in central London.
The vehicles have been cleverly engineered to solve the industry-wide challenge of eRCV battery life. The electric engine will only release power when the vehicle is active, rather than running continuously, as is required by diesel models. This means that despite power-draining factors that include fluctuating vehicle weight, frequent stops and starts, and multiple operations of the bin lift, they are expected to efficiently run for a full shift with no emissions produced.
The two year trial is part of Westminster City Council and Veolia’s long term plan to improve air quality and increase the number of electric vehicles on the city’s streets. If successful, the vehicles will make daily recycling and refuse collections cleaner and greener, and accelerate the transition to zero-emission heavy goods vehicles in central London.
