Saturday September 7 2024
Swindon & Wiltshire News
A 107 percent increase in recycling used cooking oil has been achieved in Wiltshire following a three month campaign to raise awareness of the service.
Eco-firm Living Fuels and Marlborough-based recycling contractor Hills Waste Solutions encouraged residents to recycle their used cooking oil instead of pouring it down the drain and rewarded their efforts by donating 25 pence per litre recycled to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance (WAA) charity.
The campaign ran from January to March and this week the two companies presented the charity with a cheque for £1,300.
Cliff Carter, recycling manager for Hills 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 3 month campaign compared to the 2,000 litres we would usually expect to collect.”
Caroline Corrigan, head of fundraising for Wiltshire Air Ambulance continued: “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.”
All the oil collected will be recovered into renewable electricity for the National Grid and used to power UK homes and businesses. Every year an average of £15 million is spent on dealing with blockages caused by oil sticking to pipework and clogging drains.
Rob Murphy, operations director of Living Fuels said of the positive response to the scheme: “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 UK’s reliance on fossil derived fuels and therefore lowering the country’s carbon footprint.”
