An updated plan to get Swindon Borough Council’s carbon emissions down to net zero in the next seven years will be discussed by the ruling Conservative cabinet on Wednesday.
And it will also include measures to help all residents, businesses and organisations in the borough get their emissions to the same neutral state by 2050.
The plan sets out actions such as borough-wide food waste collection service – scaling up from just a 10,000-household trial to collecting food waste from 90,000 households from autumn 2023.
Instead of going to landfill, food will be treated using a method called anaerobic digestion which produces renewable energy (biogas) and agricultural soil improver.
The council will also continue to develop the Waterside Innovation Hub at its operations depot, which harnesses renewable energy from Barnfield solar farm to power buildings and vehicles. A 12MW/24MWh battery due to be turned on later this year will help supply surplus renewable energy to the local electricity network, equivalent to powering over 3,000 local homes for two hours.
Also in the plan is the planting of around 51,500 new trees across the borough, including 18 sites in the Great Western Community Forest area, launching a group-buying scheme Solar Together with over 200 Swindon homeowners investing in solar panels, installing solar panels and loft insulation to improve the energy efficiency of 669 lower-income Swindon households, through the Local Authority Delivery scheme, and installing the borough’s first on-street electric vehicle charging points.
Keith Williams, the authority’s cabinet member for climate change, finance and commercialisation said: “I am really pleased that the council continues to take tangible actions to reduce its impact on the environment, as well as supporting Swindon residents and organisations to respond to the climate emergency.
“Over the past two years, we have helped over 800 Swindon households to benefit from new energy efficiency measures and renewable energy.
“The progress made so far is encouraging and it’s great to see so much activity taking place despite a difficult financial climate for the Council and residents. There’s much more for us all to do, both locally and across the world. Residents and organisations can find climate change information and advice on our website, swindon.gov.uk/bethechange.”
In the last three years the borough’s 26,000 streetlights have been converted to lower-energy LEDs, the council has bought 27 electric and seven hybrid vehicles to switch its fleet to electric and installed batteries to make best use of all the power generated by its Barnfield solar farm.
The cabinet will meet at 6pm on Wednesday at the civic offices in Euclid Street.
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