District Council takes delivery of more efficient refuse and recycling fleet

East Lindsey District Council has started to take delivery of its new refuse and recycling fleet.

The first vehicles arrived at the Council’s depot on Louth Industrial Estate this week.

In January, the Council agreed to spend £2.6m of capital money to purchase a fleet of 16 new refuse and recycling vehicles to replace the old fleet that is coming to the end of its lease agreement.

The vehicles have been procured by the District Council with support from Procurement Lincolnshire, which teamed up with other Councils in Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire to use joint buying power to drive down costs.

Buying the vehicles outright, rather than leasing, will save around £370k per year in revenue and enable the Council to maximise the life of the fleet in the future.

Currently, the waste collection service costs the Council £55.67 per household per year. The new fleet contains the latest in-cab technologies that will help to optimise waste collection rounds to minimise travel distances and maximise fuel economy. The technology will also provide a greater level of intelligence to enable the Council to manage its ‘missed bin’ service. The fleet with also have electronically driven bin lifts, as opposed to diesel.

Each year the Council’s refuse and recycling fleet travels around 400,000 miles, emptying over 4,500,000 wheeled bins – 52,000 tonnes of waste. The vehicles being replaced have been in operation since 2006.

Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Councillor Tony Bridges, who is responsible for waste collections, said: “The vehicles will be phased in over the coming weeks with the old vehicles going back to the contractor.

“This is a necessary investment for the Council, which will mean we can continue to make our refuse and recycling collection service more efficient both environmentally and financially.

“The new fleet arrangements will save the Council £370k in running costs per year – a sum that will go a long way in helping the Council to protect other services to the community at a time when revenue funding is very tight due to reductions in Government funding and cost pressures, such as fuel.”