A used cooking oil recycling scheme which sees Lincolnshire residents recycling waste oil into renewable energy is celebrating its fifth year.
The scheme, which aims to divert waste cooking oil from sewers, was installed by Lincolnshire Council in 2008.
Currently, an estimated 129,000 tonnes of cooking oil is disposed of down the drain by UK residents each year, which results in a countrywide bill of around £15 million in cleaning up blocked sewers.
However, Lincolnshire residents can rid themselves of a sticky, messy waste at their local household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) and help to power the UK’s lights at the same time.
Once collected from each of the county’s 12 recycling centres, the waste oil is taken by eco-firm Living Fuels to their recovery facility, where it is naturally settled and filtered into an environmentally friendly bioliquid, LF100. This bioliquid is then used in the company’s renewable energy stations to provide carbon neutral power for the National Grid at times of unexpected demand.
Mark Johnson, HWRC Business Manager, of waste contractor FCC Environment, who operate four HWRCs on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council, said of the scheme: “So far, enough used cooking oil has been collected to provide the equivalent energy to brew 12 million cups of tea, which is enough to provide each person in the county 11 cups each.*
“As a leading operator of household waste recycling centres in the UK, providing effective recycling solutions to the public through their local authorities, we’re always keen to extend the range of materials that can be productively and economically recycled.”
Councillor Reg Shore of Lincolnshire County Council commented: “The County Council supports an increasing range of measures to help maximise recycling and is therefore very happy to partner ‘Living Fuels’ as part of our strategy. It’s good news that just one litre of used cooking oil can power an oven for four hours and one full tank can power the average home for an entire year.”
Ian Collins, Living Fuels’ Managing Director continued: “Living Fuels is delighted to have partnered with FCC Environment and Lincolnshire County Council to provide residents with a clean and sustainable option for recycling their used cooking oil. It’s great to know that Lincolnshire residents are so passionate about recycling and are helping to power the UK’s lights by getting rid of their waste.”
*Figure based on Wikipedia’s 2011 population estimate of 1,042,000 people in the county
Photo shows Johanna Walker, Sustainability Education Officer for Lincolnshire County Council; Cllr Reg Shore of Lincolnshire County Council; Mark Johnson, FCC Site Manager and Sean Kent, Lincolnshire County Council’s head of services.