The council will pilot the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) which will drastically reduce carbon emissions from the fleet by as much as 90% in some cases.

It aims to move away from the use of diesel and to run its vehicles with the biofuel.

Over the course of the 12-month trial, almost 900,000kg of carbon dioxide will be saved. HVO fuel also means fewer particulates and nitrogen oxides.

The council has also taken delivery of a fully electric Dennis Eagle bin wagon for a short-term trial.

Cllr Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, cabinet member for the environment and sustainability, said: ‘The switch to HVO fuel means we will have one of the greenest vehicle fleets in the whole of North Yorkshire.

‘Cutting harmful emissions by 90 per cent means we will take a huge step towards our goal to minimise the harmful affect our services have on our fragile environment.

‘Our overall CO2 emissions are the lowest they have been for more than 15 years and should be driven down further because of this trial.

‘I am also delighted that Dennis Eagle has leant us a pure-electric bin wagon to test. It will be interesting to see how the vehicle performs in a real-world setting, especially given the challenging geography in some parts of our borough.’