http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,821193,00.html
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Chicken fat to power lorries
Chicken fat to power lorries
Martin Wainwright
Tuesday October 29, 2002
The Guardian
The supermarket firm unwittingly at the centre of a cooking-oil car
fuel scam has decided to try running its own fleet of lorries on
waste from kitchen frying pans.
Starting in January, Asda trucks of up to 40 tonnes will carry
startling slogans saying "This vehicle is powered by chicken fat" -
the biggest boost yet for the legal use of recycled cooking oil on
Britain's roads.
Lorries making deliveries on Tyneside and in Yorkshire will be the
first to try the fuel, which is currently available on three
forecourts in Yorkshire. A further eight garages in the region are to
take supplies from the growing number of biodiesel refiners, who were
given a 20p-a-litre green tax concession by the chancellor, Gordon
Brown, in July.
Asda produces more than 50m litres of used cooking oil and 138,000 of
waste frying fat every year from its canteens, restaurants and
rotisseries. The gunge was a disposal headache rather than a
potential money-earner until an unexpected phone call last spring.
"We were approached by a biodiesel firm, which cleans up waste
cooking oil, adds a bit of methanol and sells it as a much cheaper
alternative to diesel," said Rachel Fellows of Asda yesterday. "We
were only too happy to do business with them.
"But then we thought: hang on, isn't there something we can do here
for ourselves?"
Company trials of "chip pan fuel" for Asda's cars and lorries were
then intensified after the firm's innocent involvement last month in
a moonshine operation at Llanelli in South Wales. A special "frying
squad" set up by Dyfed Powys police discovered that hundreds of
drivers were running their cars on Asda's "extra-value" cooking oil
mixed with methanol at home, in a moonshine operation which dodged
tax.
The 32p-a-litre fuel supply - compared with 73p at forecourt diesel
pumps - was cut off when Asda discovered its Llanelli branch was
selling vastly more oil than anywhere else in the country. Rationing
was imposed and the police frying squad - whose tactics included
sniffing out the chip-shop smell of bootleg cars - moved in.
The planned Asda fleet fuel, like all commercial biodiesel, is
completely legal but will still undercut conventional diesel prices
by at least 10p a litre. Converting an in-house product like the
waste oil will add to savings for the firm.
"Oil's a finite resource and we are fully aware of the fact that we
shouldn't be wasting it," Ms Fellows said. "This is real
eco-innovation - trials already show that chip pan fuel emissions are
up to 40% lower that diesel."
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