Somerset waste bosses could spend more than £5.5M replacing 22 bin lorries which are approaching the end of their working life.

The Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) has a number of vehicles which pre-date its Recycle More roll-out, and which will need to be replaced by April 2024.

Options to replace the vehicles came before a meeting of the SWP's joint scrutiny panel on Wednesday afternoon (June 22), with officers considering replacing several diesel vehicles with electric ones.

Councillors have approved the proposals – and urged the SWP to consider converting more of the existing trucks to electric vehicles in the years to come.

The SWP has 108 recycling trucks and 43 refuse trucks at its disposal, ranging from standard Romaquips to more specialist vehicles for narrow or steep streets.

Councillors voted to replace 140 of these vehicles in 2019 ahead of the new Recycle More contract beginning, with these vehicles expected to last until 2030.

Of the remaining vehicles, 23 were brought into service in 2016 and are not expected to be replaced until April 2024 – but a decision is needed now in light of a "global semi-conductor shortage and the aftermath of covid", which affects how quickly new vehicles are being produced.

One of these vehicles has already been converted into an electric vehicle, and is performing well on a limited number of routes.

Some of the remaining 22 vehicles – of which the majority are refuse trucks of various sizes and weights – were refurbished in early 2021 but are now regularly experiencing mechanical issues, resulting in missed collections.

Rather than employ a one-size-fits-all replacement strategy, the SWP has produced a series of solutions to the problem, identifying how different fuels can be used to reduce carbon emissions.

Under the proposals, ten trucks will be replaced with electric vehicles, with five operating from the Evercreech depot near Shepton Mallet, four from the Bridgwater or Taunton depot and one from the Lufton depot in Yeovil – at a cost of £4,290,000.

A further eight of the vehicles will be replaced like-for-like with diesel trucks at a combined cost of £1,116,000 – though the vehicles may run on vegetable oil rather than conventional diesel.

The other four vehicles will be refurbished and redirected to school and communal collections, at a predicted cost of £160,000 – bringing the total projected bill to £5,566,000.

Councillor Michael Dunk – who represents the Frome Market ward on Mendip District Council – questioned how viable it would be to switch the entire waste collection fleet to electric over the coming years.

He asked: "How much extra is it costing per vehicle to go down the electric road? And how many vehicles are left – if we do 22 now, what's the rest of the fleet looking like?"

SWP managing director Mickey Green responded: "They cost more than diesel up front.

"We believe the cost will come down over time as the market changes – there's a greater cost premium to hydrogen vehicles and we haven't got the money to risk getting a hydrogen vehicle that just sits in the depot.

"Each vehicle saves around £10,000 a year compared to diesel costs and around £1,500 on maintenance costs – there's less stuff to go wrong."

Councillor Robin Bastable (whose Tower ward on South Somerset District Council comprises numerous villages around Bruton, Castle Cary and Wincanton) said that electric vehicles were the way to go.

He said: "I think the electric market will change enormously in the next 18 months, and what they propose to do seems very sensible to me."

The panel voted to approve the proposals, which will come before the Somerset waste board for final approval on Friday morning (June 24).