Recycling Used Cooking Oil: Environmental Good News!

As a fully paid up member of Friends of The Earth what am I doing running EFG, a foodservice delivery business with all our vehicles producing exhaust emissions. Have I no conscience??

Worldwide attempts to reduce carbon emissions have recently involved a switch towards biofuels – the logic is that as we grow crops we take as much carbon from the atmosphere as we put back when we burn the fuel made from them. But it is not a free-ride, unfortunately. They are bad news in several ways, competing for land and water resources with food crops, and also causing carbon emissions (eg in fertiliser production, and chemical processing) which are usually conveniently disregarded by those ‘selling’ the idea . Even now swathes of forest are being cut down to grow more palm and soya oils in the tropics for conversion into biofuels. It is environmentally destructive; massively so. I completely dissociate myself from that. That is not what we are about.

We are doing something different. What we are involved in is the collection of a waste product – Used Cooking Oil. The original crop - Palm or Rape or Soya - was grown as a food crop. It has been fully used for cooking in an appropriate and ethical manner. It is illegal to flush the used oil out through the sewers (though this does still happen) and it is no longer possible to feed it to animals, so we collect the used cooking oil and reprocess it into Biodiesel. I am heavily involved in a business that does the reprocessing – Celtic Biodiesel. We use it ourselves at EFG (fully tax-paid) blended with Mineral Diesel in our vehicles, thus reducing our carbon footprint and our customers’ footprints also.

The use of “second generation” biofuels from plant wastes and from crops that do not displace Food Crops can be appropriate and ethical. I monitor developments closely. I am proud of what I have helped to achieve in the recycling of what might otherwise be discarded and unwanted Food Waste into a Recycled Product.

I am also proud, by the way, that we have always had Garage facilities at EFG and purchase some second hand vehicles, keeping them on the road in fair working condition for an extended life.

In my personal life I feel very uncomfortable about flying. I am not absolutely sure when I last flew but it was before the Year 2000. I prefer to take my holidays in this country, often on a narrowboat enjoying a slower pace of life. Not only is it better for the environment, I believe it is better for me too!

Michael Spinks