ICCT report shows EU UCO collection under-utilized

June 16, 2016 |

In the UK, used cooking oil (UCO) is a low carbon feedstock for biodiesel production in the EU, but this resource is not fully utilized. While collection of UCO from restaurants and hotels is relatively widespread, only a few European countries have developed effective collection systems for UCO produced in homes.

By far the most popular way of organizing household UCO collection is through collection points located across the country. The successful launching of a household UCO collection system is pre-determined by a well-designed informational and promotional campaign. People have to be well informed about both the necessity and the possibility to recycle their UCO.

A new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation estimates that currently less than 50,000 tons of UCO gets collected per year from households across Europe. At the same time, potential resources should be at the level of 800,000 – 900,000 tons per year. This results in around 800,000 tons of UCO still to capture. However, as household collection has to be organized from scratch in the majority of EU countries, capturing all the resource will take time. We estimate that until 2030, maximally around 200,000 tons per year could be collected in the case of active and continuous support from Member States. This is a very optimistic scenario that would require uninterrupted efforts to develop household UCO collection systems from today through 2030.

Category: Fuels

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