Rotherham's cooking oil powering green electricity plant

ROTHERHAM residents have saved enough energy to make 10 million cups of tea by recycling their old cooking oil.

Pouring used oil down the sink costs UK taxpayers £15m a year in blocked drains and damages wildlife and waterways.

But since 2008, people in Rotherham have been able to recycle their old oil at special tanks placed and 14 household recycling centres.

And now Rotherham folk have been praised for the way they have been using the free service, which is provided by Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley councils in partnership with the Waste Recycling Group and Living Fuels.

The oil is taken to Living Fuels' plant in Norfolk where it is used to generate electricity which can be fed into the National Grid at times of unexpected demand.

Living Fuels operations director Rob Murphy said: “It’s brilliant to see such enthusiasm for used cooking oil recycling, and residents should all give themselves a huge pat on the back.

“It’s great to think that such a difficult waste product is being turned into something so beneficial for the environment.”

Just one litre of oil can produce enough green electricity to power an energy saving light bulb for 225 hours, run a plasma computer for 50 hours or a DVD player for 440 hours.

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