McDonald's will make biodiesel from its own waste grease for trucking fleet
 
“Over in the UK, McDonald's announced today that it will start using its own waste cooking oil to make biodiesel, which will be then used in its entire truck fleet of 155 vehicles. McDonald's has 1,200 restaurants in Britain, and Matthew Howe, senior vice president with McDonald's UK, told Reuters that the fast food chain just might be able to sell biodiesel to others because they'll likely have some excess. The biodiesel will be made from 85 percent McDonald's waste grease and 15 pure rapeseed (canola) oil. Once the biodiesel production process is refined, Howe said the virgin rapeseed element might be taken out. About 20 trucks in the southern English town of Basingstoke started using biodiesel today, following a year-long B5 trial period. During this time, McDonald's converted 150,000 liters of used cooking oil to biodiesel. The whole truck fleet should be converted to biodiesel in about a year, which will mean 6.1 million liters of waste oil put to use on the roads. McDonald's claims the switch will save 1,675 tons of carbon each year. Yahoo! UK says the McDonald's trucks in Austria have been using biodiesel "for a few years." Betcha that Biofuels Corporation wishes they'd been a part of this. http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/02/mcdonalds-will-make-biodiesel-from-its-own-waste-grease-for-tru/ [Source: Reuters, Yahoo! UK, h/t to Gary F]http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL0240836220070702?src=070207_1217_FEATURES_environment&pageNumber=1http://uk.news.yahoo.com/itn/20070702/tuk-mcdonald-s-to-turn-chip-fat-into-fue-dba1618.htmlhttp://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/15/british-biodiesel-firm-close-to-collapse/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/02/mcdonalds-will-make-biodiesel-from-its-own-waste-grease-for-tru/shapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3