Golden Arches Spin Green Wheels in UK

From fries to fuel

McDonald's Corp. plans to convert its British delivery fleet to run on biodiesel made largely from its own recycled cooking oil, the company said yesterday.

Matthew Howe, senior vice-president of McDonald's UK, said the fast-food restaurant should eventually be able to replace the six million litres of diesel its fleet used last year with cooking oil from its 1,200 restaurants in Britain.

"We may even have a little bit of excess (biodiesel) capacity we can sell into the market," Mr. Howe told Reuters.

McDonald's launched its rollout yesterday with half of its 45-strong fleet based in Basingstoke in southern England. In about a year, the company plans to convert all its 155 delivery trucks to run on the green fuel.

Mr. Howe said the fuel would not smell of the company's food.

"It would have been one of the best marketing campaigns we could ever have had," Mr. Howe said.

The biodiesel will initially be made up of 85 per cent used cooking oil collected from about 900 McDonald's restaurants, and 15 per cent pure rapeseed oil.

The company plans to remove the rapeseed oil as refinement improves.

By using the fuel, McDonald's will save 1,675 tonnes of carbon per year, the company said.

Source: TheGlobeandMail.com