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Poole Borough Council has made a notable breakthrough in utilising a far more natural and environmentally friendly fuel in its vans.

One of the council's recycling and refuse vans has become the first in Britain to be run on a vegetable oil-based fuel, which is converted from used oil into a diesel equivalent by local firm Regenatec.

This means oil originally used for cooking chips, crisps and other food products is not then disposed of but instead utilised in the van, which is at first started up on standard diesel but then immediately switches to the bio-fuel as soon as it has been properly warmed up.

Councillor Don Collier commented: "Pure vegetable oil offers great advantages over bio-diesel for commercial vehicles.

"It is cleaner, more eco-friendly fuel than bio-diesel and has a far less damaging impact on the environment than conventional diesel fuel. We are proud to be leading the way as a local authority in our bid to be environmentally friendly."

The scheme is similar to one recently incorporated by Great Yarmouth Borough Council, in which it too powers its vehicles with vegetable oil, which is obtained from the region's chip shops and converted into fuel by local firm J&H Bunn.