Robert Sturdy Euro-MP for the Eastern Region welcomed news today that fast-food giant McDonald's plans to turn thousands of tonnes of chip fat into fuel to run its delivery vehicles.
The Rape seed industry in the eastern region could be given an extra boost as McDonald's intends to use a combination of 85% cooking oil collected in its restaurants, mixed with 15% rapeseed oil to create green fuel. Over half of all Rapeseed grown in the UK comes from the Eastern region and the drive towards alternative fuel allows for much needed product diversification in the regions agricultural community.
Following the reform of the sugar sector which has seen many farms and refineries close and the shambolic handling of the farm payments scheme placing thousands of farmers into financial crisis, I welcome any attempts to revitalise farming and processing in the Eastern region and throughout the UK.
For a long time major companies have been criticised for not taking their environmental responsibility seriously. This move by McDonald's goes to prove that global companies can take action to reduce the impact they have on the environment. I hope that this encourages other companies to pursue greener approaches to business management and that McDonald's itself expands its scheme to more and more countries. Although a costly and ambitious task, large scale adoption of these greener practices can and will be financially sustainable for the future.
Similar schemes already exist and it is about time that we follow our European counterparts in implementing such positive initiatives. The success in Austria shows that these alternative practices are more than temporary answer to years of critique.
McDonald's will collect oil from 900 of its 1,214 outlets each week, after which the cooking fat will be taken to a separation tank in East Anglia to remove the food particles before being converted to biodiesel at a plant in Buckinghamshire.
Mcdonald's said the plans will save more than 1,650 tonnes of carbon every year. This is equivalent to removing over 2 and half thousand cars from the road annually or offsetting annual emissions of over 300 family homes.
