Lidl in the UK and Ireland, in a major partnership with McCulla Ireland, is going to power its delivery lorries with bio-methane generated by in-store food waste. The ‘green fleet’, operating on fully renewable biomethane as its primary fuel source, will save more than 93% in carbon emissions per lorry.
In the coming weeks, using food waste collected from all 41 Lidl Northern Ireland stores, McCulla will start to create fully renewable bio-methane gas at its anaerobic digester (AD) plant in Lisburn to power a sustainable, next-generation transport operation which then delivers produce to Lidl stores across Northern Ireland every day.
The new Iveco S-WAY 4×2 trucks, supplied by NI Trucks, will deliver improved efficiencies and reduce carbon emissions on retail deliveries by up to 93% when operating on bio-methane.
This partnership with McCulla underlines our commitment to developing sustainable and innovative solutions which create real impact in every area of our business. From using renewable electricity to power our stores to advancing our Plastic Pledge and introducing numerous in-store initiatives to reduce waste, Lidl Northern Ireland is leading the way” – says Conor Boyle, Regional Director of Lidl Northern Ireland.
McCulla’s fleet covers more than 2,300 road miles per day. The introduction of this new ‘green fleet’ operating on fully renewable biomethane as its primary fuel source, will save more than 93% in carbon emissions due per bio-methane truck.
Since 2017 we have been producing all of our own electricity from an anaerobic digester (AD) plant at our site in Lisburn but our ultimate goal was always to use the energy produced by the AD plant to power our logistics fleet as well” – explained Ashley McCulla, Chairman of McCulla.
Photo credit @ McCulla