Burger bar oil to fuel £50m plant

The company will use oil from its existing relationships with fast food giants

Details of a planned £50m plant to turn cooking oil from burger giants such as McDonalds and Burger King into energy and bio-diesel, have been revealed.

Agri-Energy said the plant in Pembrokeshire would also process agricultural crops and animal by-products to create renewable power.

People near Milford Haven have raised concerns over odours and traffic.

The firm is staging exhibitions about the plans for a former armaments depot at Blackbridge, which would employ 80.

Robert Behan, chief executive of Agri-Energy, a subsidiary of Irish Food Processors, said it wanted to meet with anyone who had concerns to try to allay their fears

"It effectively involves the conversion of environmentally sustainable feed stocks such as tallow and used cooking oil, along with virgin oil crops such as rapeseed, into bio-diesel and power," he explained.

We believe it will be a centre of excellence for renewable energy Robert Behan, Agri-Energy

He said the raw materials would predominantly come from the company's own abattoirs in the UK and also from its used cooking oil stocks.

"We source directly from restaurants and various partners that we have in our meat processing division such as McDonalds and Burger King," he added.

He said the used cooking oil would be refined before arriving at Milford where it would be used to fuel the 35 mega-watt power plant, which would produce enough energy to power the equivalent of 60,000 homes.

It would also make around 200,000 tonnes of bio-diesel annually - mainly for use in the local refineries.

Local councillor Martin Davies said people were concerned about the impact of the plant and some would take convincing over any future planning application.

PLANT EXHIBITIONS 24 April 1300-1900 BST Pill Community Centre 25 April 1300-1900 BST, Pill Community Centre 30 April 1800-2100 BST Waterston Community Centre

"We are going to have to find out more about it - the majority of concerns centre around the smell and I have concerns about the increased traffic," he said.

Mr Behan said: "We categorically state that there will be no odours at the perimeter of the site and we will be strictly regulated by the Environment Agency and HSE (Health and Safety Executive).

"It's clear that with over a third of the proposed through-put coming in by road it is going to have an impact, but we are working closely with Pembrokeshire council and will be advised by them as to the best route to mitigate the impact."

Mr Behan said around 100 people would be employed during construction with a further 80 full-time staff running the plant. He said the average salary would be around £40,000-a-year.

"We think this is a very positive project - it balances the dominance of fossil fuels in the area and we believe it will be a centre of excellence for renewable energy."

A Burger King spokesperson said of the plans: "At Burger King, we strive to take a responsible approach to the environment throughout all our restaurants in the UK and are currently testing the recycling of our cooking oil in several restaurants.

"As part of these initiatives, we have been working with a number of companies, including Agri-Energy a subsidiary of Irish Food Processors - our beef supplier, who have been collecting the oil from restaurants to be turned into bio diesel."