Renewable Energy Generation : South Yorkshire celebrates 5 years of powering the UK

Residents across Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham are being praised for undertaking five years of used cooking oil recycling, helping to power the UK with carbon neutral electricity.

Each of the fourteen household waste and recycling centres in the area were provided with tanks in 2008 and since that time have created enough energy to produce over 10 million cups of tea.

The service is offered through the BDR Waste Partnership, which sees Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils team up with FCC Environment, one of the largest operators of household waste recycling centres (HWRCs), to reduce waste and increase recycling before 2015.

Once collected, the cooking oil is taken to eco-firm Living Fuels' recovery facility where it is naturally settled and filtered, without the use of heat or chemicals into an environmentally bioliquid, LF100. This bioliquid is then fed into generators to provide clean, green electricity to the National Grid.

Just one litre of used cooking oil can create enough energy to power an oven for 4 hours, or produce enough electricity to brew 240 cups of tea. One full tank can power the average home for an entire year.

Councillor Christine Mills, Doncaster Council's Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste, said: "We are delighted with this latest news and thank the public for their efforts in supporting this cooking oil recycling scheme. What it goes to show is that even making just a small effort is worthwhile - and what results it can have for the environment!

"We would like to thank the public for their ongoing support and understanding of the BDR Partnership as we work towards our goals of more recycling and less waste going to landfill."

Ian Collins, Managing Director of Living Fuels said, "We're really pleased at how well Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham residents have taken to the cooking oil recycling scheme".

He continued, "With their help we've been able to produce a huge amount of environmentally friendly electricity from what would otherwise be a sticky, messy waste.HWRC ."