A bus company based in the West Country is using waste cooking oil to run its buses in order to reduce its carbon emissions. The Chipper Bus Project was unveiled in May 2009 and has enabled First Bus to reduce their carbon emissions by 22,500kg, the approximate equivalent of taking 45 cars off the road for 9 months.
The scheme works by collecting waste cooking oil from surrounding businesses such as pubs, canteens, household waste recycling centres and even Bristol Prison.
Catering manager for the prison, Mark Haddow said: “It’s good to know that we are helping to reduce the carbon footprint of Bristol by doing something so simple as donating our waste products.”
After collecting the waste oil, the bus company uses McKeown’s Bio Fuels who then turn it into fuel. In order to run their buses on 100% biodiesel, First would need to collect approximately 715 litres of waste cooking oil every week.
Although using the waste cooking oil has greatly reduced its CO2 emissions, the biodiesel is costing the bus company more than conventional diesel as it is not possible to apply for the Bus Service Operator’s Grant on the biodiesel it buys.
No comments:
Post a Comment