Decision details

Moved by Councillor Scott, seconded by Councillor Miller –

It is resolved that:

(A)      Council note:

(i)         the City has offset emissions, including fleet emissions, since 2007 and was certified carbon neutral under the National Carbon Offset Standards from 2011;

(ii)        under the Sustainable Sydney 2030 policy the City is committed to reducing carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2030, which is less than nine and a half years away;

(iii)      battery run Electric Vehicles have zero exhaust emissions at the tailpipe compared to internal combustion engine vehicles;

(iv)      the City recognises both the environmental and economic benefits of electric vehicles and as at April 2019, Council had 19 Electronic Vehicles in its fleet, as well as 37 hybrid cars and 70 hybrid trucks;

(v)       Cleanaway, the City’s contractor for domestic waste, trialled two electric trucks (one larger and one smaller) in February, March and July 2020;

(vi)      procurement of the Council's first electric truck, which is a tipper truck and separate to the rubbish truck trial vehicle, has been unfortunately delayed due to Covid but upon arrival will be trialled across a number of business units over the period of one year;

(vii)     Fleet Services have included options for suppliers to respond to all recent (applicable) tenders with electric vehicles;

(viii)    the first fully electric rubbish trucks in Australia were introduced in May 2019 by the City of Casey and in January 2020 an additional several new electronic trucks were added to the City of Casey rubbish collection fleet under the management of WM Waste Management as part of a new waste contract;

(ix)      additional benefits of electric vehicle rubbish trucks is that they are quieter than diesel counterparts;

(x)       in a disaster and recovery situation such as blackouts the vehicles can be pivoted to act as temporary emergency power; and

(xi)      the City is in the process of purchasing an electric rubbish truck for its own fleet, delivery is expected mid-2021;

(xii)     while electric vehicles can have higher upfront costs (up to two and a half times more for heavy vehicles), they cost less in ongoing maintenance and fuel;

(xiii)    the City regularly renews the vehicles in its fleet, and has a plan for increasing the proportion of electric vehicles as older vehicles reach the end of their useful lives; and

(xiv)    the City is developing a “Greening the Fleet” Strategy, which will come to Council for approval when finalised;

(B)      Council recognise that electric vehicles are a key part of the City of Sydney's demonstration of support for renewable energy as they significantly reduce the City's environmental footprint and improve the sustainability of residential hard waste collection;

(C)      Council further recognise that an electric vehicle fleet as a whole supports future sustainability of the vehicle fleet more generally; and

(D)      the Chief Executive Officer be requested to:

(i)         provide an update to Council about whether the electric rubbish trucks that Cleanaway trialled in the City were able to manoeuvre City streets and laneways, has high levels of safety for staff, the economic and carbon reduction benefits and whether the trial truck is quieter than those in use currently, via the CEO Update;

(ii)        should the trial be successful and safe, progress the transition to carbon neutral vehicles, including rubbish collection vehicles, for the City of Sydney to reduce the City’s reliance on costly carbon offsets; and

(iii)      advise Council whether the current waste removal contract will allow for the introduction of additional electronic vehicle rubbish trucks to be introduced to the fleet or whether this will be required to be negotiated as part of the next contract and the year in which this tender will be released, via the CEO Update.

The motion, as varied by consent, was carried unanimously.

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