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McDonald's Fills Up Your Car with Fuel, Too
Filed under: Miscellaneous, Trucks
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McDonald's, that world's famous fast food franchise that keeps us elbow deep in hamburgers and French fries, has developed a biodiesel program in several countries that uses the used oil from its restaurants for biodiesel fuel.
The biodiesel is used by the company's distribution trucks.
Biodiesel Magazine reports that, in the United Kingdom, for example, the fuel, called B100, is being used by about 20 or so vehicles of the company's distribution vehicle fleet and will eventually be used by the full fleet of 155 vehicles.
Waste cooking oil from about 900 McDonald's restaurants in the U.K. is gathered and then processed at a biodiesel production plant in Milton Keynes, England. The cooking oil accounts for 85 percent of the feedstock used to make the biodiesel while the other 15 percent is rapeseed oil. According to McDonald's in the U.K., small modifications had to be made to the fleet vehicles' fuel pipes and each vehicle requires more constant servicing.
Currently, McDonald's is considering the program for the United States. The Delta Institute, a Chicago-based environmental and economic development non-profit group, is studying the feasibility of executing the program in Chicago.
Imagine pulling into your neighborhood fast food joint to fill up yourself and your car: "I'll have a Big Mac, Large Fries and a Medium Coke and fill up my car for me too."
It may sound a little far fetched, but then again....
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