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Lingley Green-based United Utilities, which provides water across the north west, is set to introduce new electric heavy goods vehicles powered by human waste.
It is the only water company in the UK taking part in the £100million Electric Freightway project, joining and it joins 33 firms including Sainsbury’s, Amazon and Royal Mail.
The scheme is designed to reshape how goods are transported across the UK and accelerate the transition to battery powered electric HGVs.
United Utilities vehicles will be used to transport sewage sludge, a by-product of sewage treatment, from other wastewater treatment facilities across the north west for processing.
The vehicles will charge up using renewable electricity produced on site from the processed sewage sludge.
Tom Lissett, bioresources and green energy director at United Utilities said: “This is a really exciting development and an important step towards our 100 per cent green fleet and net zero carbon targets.
“A lot of people do not realise that at the end of the wastewater treatment process, we are left with a sludge which is used to generate renewable energy.
“We call this ‘black gold’ because of the renewable energy we can release when it is processed.
“Using the vehicles to collect the sludge and then using the clean energy it generates to charge their batteries is a great way of maximising the potential of that resource.
The biogas generated is converted into 100 per cent renewable energy, which will be used to power the HGV charging points.
