Stockport Council, in partnership with Totally Local Company, have teamed up with solar transport technology experts TRAILAR to fit ultra-thin solar panels on their refuse collection vehicles.

It is estimated that by using this solar technology each of the six trucks will save up to 400 litres of fuel and more than 1,000KG of carbon emissions each year.

Cllr Mark Roberts, cabinet member for Climate Change and Environment at Stockport Council, said: ‘We want Stockport to be carbon neutral by 2038 and we’re working hard to make it a greener, smarter more enterprising place. When the opportunity was presented to work with a local firm and their market leading environmental technology we couldn’t turn it down.

‘This technology harnesses solar energy to reduce the volume of fuel required to generate the power that runs all on-board electrical equipment minimising the vehicles emissions.

‘The TRAILAR telematics platform will allow us to accurately gauge the benefit that Stockport is obtaining from Solar. We are really looking forward to working with the TRAILAR team.’

Ian Hulme, business development manager at TRAILAR, added: ‘I’m really pleased that TRAILAR has now started to support the decarbonisation of the refuse truck fleet in Stockport. I’m looking forward to working closely with Stockport Council and Totally Local Company to increase the fleets utilisation of our solar technology, to tackle air quality and fossil fuel emissions.’