Shropshire powers ahead with cooking oil recycling
Shropshire Council and their waste contractor Veolia are celebrating the success of a green energy initiative which has seen 6,740 litres of used cooking oil collected from Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) in Shropshire in the last year alone.
To recognise this achievement, Shropshire Council and Veolia have been presented with an official certificate of commendation by Living Fuels.
Cooking oil can be taken to each of Shropshire’s five HRCs, where it is collected in big green tanks. It is then collected by renewable energy provider Living Fuels and refined into an environmentally-friendly bioliquid, which is used in their dedicated combined heat and power generators to create green electricity. Shropshire’s waste cooking oil generated over 25,000 kWh of renewable energy and heat during 2012.
The big green tanks are clearly marked and are now in place at:
- Shrewsbury HRC (Battlefield Enterprise Park)
- Oswestry HRC (Mile Oak Industrial Estate)
- Bridgnorth HRC (Faraday Drive)
- Whitchurch HRC (Waymills Civic Park)
- Craven Arms HRC (off Long Lane)
Larry Wolfe, Shropshire Council’s head of waste management, said:
“It’s great that local residents have responded well to this new recycling initiative. By bringing their used cooking oil to our Household Recycling Centres, they are helping to reduce the amount of rubbish which ends up in landfill.”
For more about the used cooking oil recycling process, visit www.livingfuels.co.uk.
Top tips for recycling your used cooking oil:
- Allow the oil to cool completely before dealing with it
- Strain it into a container such as a plastic bottle or jar with a lid
- Don’t mix it with anything (solvents, water etc) or it won’t be recyclable
- Once full, take your oil to a HRC (don’t make a specific trip, but wait until you are visiting anyway or are in the area)
- Ask the site attendants for directions or assistance if you need it
- The oil should be poured into the clearly-marked tanks.
