Skip to main content

Veolia wastes nothing to go electric

Resource management company Veolia will trial two electric refuse collection vehicles (RCVs) which are charged by power derived from waste collected in Sheffield, UK. The former diesel-powered vehicles are expected to operate by the end of the year. The company says the project is intended to demonstrate its commitment to the deployment of zero-emission heavy goods vehicles. Innovate UK has provided a £220,000 grant to Sheffield City Council which will allow the 26-tonne RCVs to operate over the next two y
November 23, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Resource management company 5324 Veolia will trial two electric refuse collection vehicles (RCVs) which are charged by power derived from waste collected in Sheffield, UK. The former diesel-powered vehicles are expected to operate by the end of the year.


The company says the project is intended to demonstrate its commitment to the deployment of zero-emission heavy goods vehicles. Innovate UK has provided a £220,000 grant to Sheffield City Council which will allow the 26-tonne RCVs to operate over the next two years.

In the future, Veolia expects the RCVs to be charged using the electricity generated from non-recyclable household waste which fuels the city’s energy recovery facility.

Also, two more RCVs will be converted to electric for other trials taking place in London. Veolia has also introduced electric-powered vans eco-vans to help make deliveries more environmentally friendly at Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals as well as Southport and Ormskirk Hospital.

Related Content

  • September 19, 2017
    New services and equipment helps cities tackle air quality issues
    With poor urban air quality shortening lives and fines being imposed for breaching pollution limits, authorities are seeking ways to clean up their cities. Poor air quality is topping the agenda for city authorities across the globe. In the UK, for example, a report from the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Paediatrics and Child Health, concluded that poor outdoor air quality shortens the lives of around 40,000 people a year – principally by undermining the health of people with heart and/or lung prob
  • September 26, 2012
    Milton Keynes to trial wirelessly charged electric buses
    In an initiative to enable the quieter, cleaner future of public transport in Milton Keynes, UK, eight organisations led by a subsidiary of Mitsui Europe ("Mitsui") have agreed a five-year collaboration committing to the replacement of diesel buses with their all-electric counterparts on one of the main bus routes in the city by summer 2013. The trial, which could reduce bus running costs by between US$19,500 and US$23,000 per year, is a partnership between Mitsui subsidiary eFleet Integrated Service, Milto
  • September 6, 2018
    UK fleet operators commit to taking diesel vans off roads
    In the UK, 16 public and private sector fleet operators are to invest £40m in a bid to deploy 2,400 electric vans by 2020. The operators – which include Tesco - point to a recent study, in which the health damage caused by pollution from diesel vans has been put at £2.2bn per annum to the UK National Health Service and to society. The newly-formed consortium – called the Clean Van Commitment – is backed by the Department for Transport and led by charity Global Action Plan and energy and services group Engi
  • August 1, 2023
    Transportation’s electrifying future
    Climbing out of our silos will be vital to create the frameworks and networks needed to decarbonise transport, if we are serious about mitigating climate change, says Colin Sowman