Crawley Borough Council buys 15 new bin lorries at a cost of £3million

The news was shared during a meeting of the full council by Bob Noyce, cabinet member for environment, sustainability & climate change.

The fleet is made up of 14 26-tonne vehicles and one 18-tonne.

They will be used to collect rubbish, recycling and garden waste five days per week all year round and are expected to last for ten years.

Mr Noyce said the new vehicles were narrower than the old ones, making them more manoeuvrable in some of the tighter spots in town.

He added that they had the capability to run on HVO fuel – hydro-treated vegetable oil – which produces far less carbon than traditional diesel.

The money for the vehicles was approved early last year, with £1.6m taken from the Refuse Vehicle Replacement Reserve, £180,000 coming from the Waste and Recycling Reserve and £1.22m from the Capital Programme Reserve.

Schoolchildren were invited to name the new lorries.

Mr Noyce said the winners would be announced during a presentation at Broadfield Stadium ‘in due course’.