Bin lorries in North Herts will no longer run entirely on vegetable oil because of rising fuel prices.

North Herts Council agreed last year that all its larger bin lorries under a new contract with Veolia would run entirely on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) rather than diesel, with the aim of reducing the authority's carbon emissions.

An extra £40,000 a year was budgeted for the HVO fuel, but Amy Allen, cabinet member for environment, warned that a price increase from 10p per litre to 40p per litre means it would cost the council an additional £15,000 every month to continue using 100% HVO.

The council's cabinet decided earlier in June to use a mixture of diesel and HVO instead, with the precise percentage of each fuel varying depending on prices.

The aim is to limit the council's overspend on HVO to around £5,000 per month over the next nine months, with at least 20% HVO always being used.

An interim decision to limit the overspend was taken by the council's director for environment in April, and has now been confirmed by the cabinet.

In comparison to a 100% diesel lorry, a 20% HVO mix leads to an 18% reduction in emissions, while 100% HVO would see a 90% reduction.

Only lorries above 3.5 tonnes will be affected by the change because all lorries below that weight are electric vehicles.

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Cllr Allen said combining HVO and diesel would "allow us to continue using HVO where possible" but also "limit the financial impact on the budget".

"We can still achieve some emissions reductions rather than stopping HVO use entirely, which is not something we are entertaining," she added.

"This is an interim measure which we will revisit in a few months … we remain fully committed to returning to 100% HVO when market conditions improve, and prices stabilise."

The council's cabinet member for resources, Ian Albert, said it was a "sensible and practical" decision that would be kept "under review".