Campaign boosts Wiltshire cooking oil recycling

Cooking oil recovery firm Living Fuels and Hills Waste Solutions encouraged residents to recycle their used cooking oil instead of pouring it down the drain, as well as donating 25p per litre recycled to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance charity.

As a result of the campaign, which ran from January to March 2013, the two companies this week presented the charity with a cheque for 1,300.

According to Hills Waste Solutions, all the oil collected at disposal tanks situated at each of Wiltshires 11 household recycling centres, before it is transported to Living Fuels recovery facility. There, the oil is recovered into renewable electricity for the National Grid and used to power UK homes and businesses.

The cooking oil recycling scheme was introduced by the two firms in conjunction with Wiltshire council in December 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).

One litre of used cooking oil provides enough clean electricity to produce 240 cups of tea, while one full tank can power the average home for one year, the firm claims.

Cliff Carter, recycling manager for Hills Waste Solutions said: The response to this campaign has been incredible, with the amount of used cooking oil brought to us for recycling rising to 5,200 litres over the three month campaign compared to the average of 2,000 litres we would usually expect to collect.

Rob Murphy, operations director of Living Fuels added: We are absolutely delighted with the effort residents have made in recycling their used cooking oil. Not only are they supporting an absolutely fantastic charity, they are helping to reduce the UKs reliance on fossil derived fuels and therefore lowering the countrys carbon footprint.

Every year, according to Hills Waste Solutions, an average of 15 million is spent on dealing with blockages caused by oil sticking to pipework and clogging drains.

Caroline Corrigan, head of fundraising for Wiltshire Air Ambulance said: We were really pleased to be the nominated charity for this brilliant idea to recycle and raise funds. I had no idea the impact of disposing oil incorrectly and hope this campaign helps to limit damage to our drains in the future.

Wiltshire Air Ambulance, established in 1990, is the only ambulance service in the UK that can fly at night. It can currently reach patients across the county in around 11 minutes and is funded solely by public donations.