Kingston Council Charges Ahead with New Electric Fleet
Kingston Council launched their new electric collection vehicles in partnership with Veolia to provide a cleaner, greener, and quieter service for residents across the borough. With dedicated collection vehicles for each waste stream, the new fleet will also help to expand the food waste service, bolstering recycling rates and driving ecological transformation across the borough.
Kingston Council and Veolia are rolling out 27 new electric collection vehicles to replace current diesel models, allowing for cleaner and quieter collection services with a reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM) emissions, which all contribute to poor air quality.
Starting in September, Kingston will gradually replace its recycling and refuse collection vehicles with a new electric fleet. These new trucks will be dedicated to single material collections instead of their current diesel counterparts, which are split to allow for simultaneous food waste and mixed recycling collections. This can lead to contamination, so the new vehicles will help improve the recycling quality and Kingston's recycling rate. This also reduces the number of trips each vehicle has to take to the tip, saving energy. These developments demonstrate Kingston Council's commitment to being Net Zero by 2030.
Scott Edgell, General Manager for Veolia South London, said:
"We're excited to see our partnership with Kingston Council result in a better service for residents, along with reduced air and noise pollution, thanks to introducing our new electric fleet of recycling and waste collection vehicles. By constantly innovating our resources and services, we can drive ecological transformation across the borough and support our partner on their Net Zero carbon journey."
Councillor Noel Hadjimichael, Kingston Council’s Portfolio Holder for Assets, Commissioning and Waste, said:
"This is a huge milestone for climate action in Kingston. We are committed to finding sustainable solutions to tackle climate change, and introducing a fully electric waste collection fleet demonstrates that. We are proud to be one of the first authorities nationally to make such a move. Introducing an electric waste fleet helps improve the borough's air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly, bringing us closer to achieving Net Zero by 2030."
