KDKA 2 - Station Info KDKA News Radio 1020 - Station Info 93-7 The Fan - Station Info Pittsburgh-CW-Logo

McDonald’s Trucks Traveling Greener On Recycled Frier Oil

(credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

(credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

Featured Gallery

Love cars?

Visit CBS Pittsburgh's

Autos section.

green car reports logo v2003 McDonalds Trucks Traveling Greener On Recycled Frier Oil
The United Arab Emirates isn’t known for its aversion to fossil fuels.

The country has made its money from the stuff, and rapidly expanded in the last four decades into the vastly wealthy, oil-rich nation it is today.

Yet as of December last year, McDonalds delivery trucks in the country have reached the 800,000-mile mark on a different sort of oil–recycled cooking oil.

One hundred percent of the used oil from the UAE’s McDonalds restaurants is turned back into biofuel, through biodiesel producer Neutral Fuels. The fuel is left completely unblended with regular fossil fuels, making it 100 percent biodiesel.

The scheme has been running in the UAE for 17 months. As Design News reports, McDonalds is one of the biggest companies to attempt such a scheme thus far.

In the UAE, Neutral fuels collects over 6,600 gallons of used oil per month, in trucks already running on biodiesel. Those same trucks also deliver new oil and other supplies to the restaurants.

The UAE isn’t the only country the company is operating the system in. McDonalds vehicles in the UK get 100 percent of their fuel from recycled cooking oil-based biodiesel. In Europe as a whole, 80 percent of the company’s waste oil is turned into biodiesel, and 37 percent of the total fleet is run on the fuel.

Even in the U.S, 75 percent of eligible restaurants recycle their cooking oil, contributing an average of 1,450 gallons of used oil every year.

Not only does using waste oil ensure products are recycled, but it’s also significantly cheaper than biodiesel made from feedstock.

Neutral Fuels estimates that up to 95 percent of biofuel production costs are feedstock–and of course, the recycling aspect means that overall impact is lower than growing crops specifically for fuel.

Not every company can access enough cooking oil to power its own fleets, but it’s comforting to know that such a large company as McDonalds is prepared to make the effort–even if you’re more of a Burger King fan…

_______________________

This article originally appeared at Green Car Reports.

Listen Live!

TV Schedule

Full Program Grid
7:00 PM KDKA-TV News
7:30 PM omg! Insider
8:00 PM Elementary
9:00 PM Criminal Minds
10:00 PM 48 Hours
11:00 PM KDKA-TV News at 11
11:35 PM CSI: Miami

Now On KDKA-TV:

follow us Now On KDKA TV: video on demand Now On KDKA TV: weatherbug small Now On KDKA TV: waitingchildsm Now On KDKA TV: ptls Now On KDKA TV: driving skills for l41d84c Now On KDKA TV:  Now On KDKA TV: heinzredzonerecipes3 Now On KDKA TV: hometownhighq Now On KDKA TV: 50261 pitts kdka local alleghenygeneralhospital extraeffort 140x85 2012 0817 Now On KDKA TV:

Select a Live Stream