Gritters to travel in a more sustainable way

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Gritters across North Somerset will help keep major routes in North Somerset passable this winter in a more sustainable way.
 

The six bright yellow vehicles will now run on Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel as part of the council's commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. 

HVO fuel reduces the carbon associated with fuel usage by 90 per cent.  

It is produced entirely from renewable raw materials, including vegetable oils, animal fats, cooking oils, fish fats and corn oils, all of which are recovered from current industry practices and/or waste processing operations. 

Cllr Mike Solomon, North Somerset Council's executive member with responsibility for roads said the gritters covered many miles during the course of the winter and the switch to HVO supported the council's commitment to be carbon neutral in the future.

"The gritters cover a huge number of miles over the winter period so I am delighted that they will now be using a more environmentally friendly form of fuel in line with our climate emergency commitments.

"Each gritter tends to operate in its named area, so look out for Burrrrrington, Bleadon-cold, Nailski, Portispread, Weston-scooper-Mare and Sleetholm during the winter months."

The fleet are co-ordinated by highways engineers who work on schemes all year to improve the condition of the area’s roads, then become winter specialists from October to provide cover seven-days a week.

Last winter, the gritters went out 52 times, used 2,400 tonnes of salt and gritted 9,857 miles of road.

January was the busiest month with the gritters going out 23 times in total.