McDonalds to run trucks on biodiesel from used cooking oil
Mon 02 July 2007
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McDonald's Corporation has announced that it is to convert its British delivery fleet to run on biodiesel made largely from its own recycled cooking oil.
The fast food restaurant will eventually replace the six million litres of diesel its fleet used last year with cooking oil from about 900 restaurants in Britain, blending this with 15% rapeseed oil to produce EN 14214 grade biodiesel.
McDonald's launched its rollout with half of its 45-strong fleet based in Basingstoke and says that in about 12 months it would convert all its 155 delivery trucks to run on the fuel. The move follows extensive trials with its distribution partner, Keystone Distribution UK, which started in August 2006.
McDonald's claims that the project will save 1,675 tonnes of carbon annually when the national roll-out is completed - the equivalent of removing 2,424 family cars from the road each year.
Initially, the biodiesel used will be made from 85% used cooking oil, collected from McDonald's restaurants, and 15% from pure rapeseed oil. McDonald's will continue to work with suppliers in order to minimise the need for pure rapeseed oil in the manufacturing process.
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