Luton Borough Council switches vehicle fleet from using diesel fuel to gas-to-liquid (GTL)

The council has described it as "a major step forward" in its ambitions to make Luton a carbon-neutral town, a key element of its Luton 2040 vision

GTL is much more environmentally-friendly than diesel, producing lower levels of damaging emissions such carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide with trials showing the latter reduced by as much as 50 per cent.

Along with reduced emissions, vehicles powered by GTL run slightly quieter, meaning less disturbance for activities such as bin collections.

The new fuel can be used in existing diesel engines, so no investment in the fleet was needed.

Cllr Robert Roche, portfolio holder for sustainable development, said, “As a council we are committed in our aim to make the town carbon neutral so anything we can do to move towards this is a huge step, and we are quite ahead of the game using this new approach.

"We now have everything on 4 wheels running on GTL, from our 26 waste trucks, to mini buses, vans, and cars.

“We are already seeing the benefits with this change to Gas to Liquid fuel which will help our fleet to run more efficiently and produce fewer local emissions, and so have a positive impact on our local environment.”

Further environmentally-friendly ideas are being explored by the council, including new training on how to run electric vehicles.