Pilot project for domestic collection of cooking oil

WasteServ Malta Limited is planning to launch a pilot project for the collection of used cooking oil from 16,400 households to turn it into biodiesel.

Starting in May, the project will involve six localities where containers will be distributed to households against payment of a deposit.

The receptacles will be collected at authorised collection points and the oil would be used to make environment-friendly biodiesel. If the pilot project is successful, used cooking oil collection will go nationwide.

Around 60 per cent of oil collected from frying pans can be turned into biodiesel through a process that lasts around 15 hours.

Speaking at a conference organised by Edible Oil Refining Company Limited, which is already collecting oil from catering establishments, as well as lards and animal remains from the abattoir to make biodiesel, WasteServ economics officer Carmen Vella said the project would prevent used cooking oil from ending in the sewage system.

It is calculated that the Water Services Corporation has to deal with some 960 sewage blockages a year, 35 per cent of which are caused by cooking oil and fats that end up in sewers.

"Malta imports around 5,500 tonnes of edible oil and 4,000 tonnes of fat each year," Ms Vella said.

Speaking to The Times, she said restaurants already had a collection system thanks to an agreement between the Malta Hotels and Restaurants' Association and Edible Oil.

Asked which localities would participate in the pilot project and from where residents would obtain the containers, Ms Vella said more information would be provided in due course.

Environment Minister George Pullicino, who was present for yesterday's conference, had announced the pilot project during a visit to Edible Oil in November. He had said the project would start in January.

As a pure fuel, biodiesel contains no sulphur. Therefore it does not harm the environment as normal diesel when burnt in engines. It is hardly ever sold in pure form but is mostly available in blend stock, where biodiesel is mixed to petroleum diesel and can be used by all diesel engines without any modification. The lubricity of biodiesel, needed for the engine's smooth running, exceeds that of normal diesel.

Edible Oil commercial manager Pippo Psaila said the company started testing biodiesel two years ago and now produces around 100 tonnes a month.

He explained that biodiesel was an alternative fuel that could be used on all diesel engines without any modification.

Mr Psaila said Edible Oil produced different kinds of biodiesel - pure biodiesel, which is only sold to commercial enterprises, which have an agreement with Edible Oil, a blend with 30 per cent biodiesel and another with 20 per cent biodiesel. The rest is normal diesel.

He said research showed that from one per cent content of biodiesel in the mix, the environmental harm caused by normal diesel was greatly reduced.

Biodiesel is used by Mepa's 43 cars powered by a diesel engine. Other users include WasteServ, ST Microelectronics and a number of NGOs such as Gaia Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Nature Trust and the Organic Farmers Association. The mobile incinerator at the abattoir also runs on biodiesel.

So far, however, it is only available from a fuel station outside the Edible Oil factory in Marsa.