Fast-food giant McDonald’s will be fueling some of its delivery trucks in the United Kingdom on the leftover oil used to cook its french fries and chicken nuggets.
This story in London’s Financial Times says 155 trucks could be running on the fuel made from the grease by the end of the year:
The fast-food group, which to date has been running trucks on 95 per cent diesel and 5 per cent biodiesel, will initially use a blend of 85 per cent biodiesel and 15 per cent rapeseed oil.
Matthew Howe, manager of McDonald’s UK supply chain, said the cost of using biodiesel was expected to be the same as the restaurant group’s diesel costs in the long term. “In the short term, we think it will cost a little bit more,” he said, adding this extra cost could amount to “a couple of pennies a litre”.
The company expects to convert an annual 6m litres of oil, comparable to the 6.1m litres of diesel used in its trucks last year.
McDonald’s will collect oil from 900 of its 1,200 UK outlets every week and have it made into biodiesel. Company officials say it will produce a 78% reduction in the company’s carbon emissions. It’s also seen as a test as whether the idea would work in the United States.