The vehicles will run on hydrotreated vegetable oil instead of diesel in a bid to slash carbon emissions.
Scarborough Borough Council said the fuel would be used in more than half of the vehicles at its Dean Road depot, including bin lorries and lawnmowers.Harry Baross, climate change and carbon reduction officer, said HVO is a "brilliant half-way point" and will "do wonders" for the authority's carbon footprint, with council vans, trucks and plant equipment typically consuming about 30,000 litres of diesel a month.
Cllr Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff said the switch to HVO has already cut the authority's harmful emissions by 90%. "It's a huge step towards our goal to minimise the harmful affect our services have on our fragile environment," she said. "Our overall CO2 emissions are the lowest they've been for more than 15 years and should be driven down further because of this trial."Fleet manager, Steve Hood, said HVO gives an "almost like-for-like replacement of diesel" and said there had been "no issues" in the initial part of the trial with most vehicles able to use it without any modification.