Vale residents can now recycle cooking oil

Published 18 August 2011

Vale of Glamorgan residents will be able to recycle their waste cooking oil at local recycling centres, in a move that will also see significant savings for taxpayers.

The new initiative will help cut the £15m annual bill for cleaning up drains and watercourses damaged by waste fats. This huge sum is literally being tipped down the drain every year in the UK as a direct result of used cooking oil being poured down the sink rather than recycled.

The waste oil collected at household waste recycling centres in the Vale of Glamorgan will be converted to clean electricity.

Green energy firm Living Fuels, working in partnership with the Vale of Glamorgan Council and BIFFA, has placed tanks for used cooking oil at the Llandow household waste recycling centre (civic amenity site). Oil recycling tanks will also be available at the new household waste recycling centre at Atlantic Trading Estate, Barry which opens on 1 September 2011.

Cllr Geoff Cox, Cabinet Member for visible and building services, said: "I am pleased to announce this new scheme for our residents that will, for the first time, enable us all to recycle any type of used cooking oil".

Living Fuels collects the waste oil and refines it through a 100 per cent natural process to produce a patented biofuel. This, in turn, powers specially-designed engines to supply safe, clean, renewable electricity to the National Grid.

Rob Murphy, operations director for Living Fuels said: "Just one litre of used cooking oil that we collect generates enough renewable electricity through our chemical-free processing to make 240 cups of tea. Since we started out three years ago we have collected enough waste oil to power 5,000 UK homes for a year.

"But we can still do much, much more so I’m delighted that environmentally-conscious Vale residents can now recycle their used cooking oil and help the fight against dangerous climate change".

Living Fuels tanks have been installed at Llandow HWRC, Llandow Trading Estate, Gluepot Road, CF71 7PB. The summer opening times of the site are 10am until 5pm.

For more information about waste management and cleansing in the Vale of Glamorgan either telephone 01446 700 111, email visible@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk or visit our web pages here.