Waste oils turned into biodiesel

Some UK council refuse vehicles are run on recycled vegetable oil

Fats, oils and grease from restaurants and takeaways in Cambridgeshire are to be collected to make biodiesel.

A licensed operator will collect the waste initially from more than a dozen businesses in St Ives who signed up to the scheme at its launch on Wednesday.

Collette Nicholls of Anglian Water, one of the partners in the scheme, said: "This is a unique partnership between ourselves and the community of St Ives.

"We look forward to being able to roll out the scheme out to other towns."

Fats and oils in sewers are harming our environment and cost money to clean, Ms Nicholls said.

"We have spoken to businesses that are spending £400 every other month on clearing their own pipes because they are blocked with fat.

Free service

"Keeping our sewers clear costs more than £5millilon across the region and with the right education it could also be easily avoidable."

Huntingdonshire District Council's environmental health officer Belinda Betham said: "We are very happy to support this initiative, which will help caterers to manage the disposal of waste cooking oil hygienically.

"We encourage caterers to sign up to the free service, which we hope can be extended to cover all of Huntingdonshire in the near future."

David Harrod, of licensed operator J & H Bunn, said: "The free service we are offering commercial kitchens for the collection of used cooking oil, ticks all the right boxes for everyone.

"We will be recycling the oil into a locally produced, sustainable, carbon-neutral and renewable biodiesel, which in turn is used to power vehicles in East Anglia."