McDonald’s is to convert all its UK delivery vehicles to run on biodiesel, using the firm’s supply of cooking oil.
The fast-food chain has pledged to convert all its 155 vehicles by next year, starting with 45 lorries based at its distribution centre in Hampshire.
The move follows a successful trial last year.
Haven’t found out if they’re doing anything like this in the States. Perish the thought you could easily work your way through their crappy corporate website to email some PR geek a question.
Great conservation idea and they can entice more customers to stop by as the smell of french fries leaves the tail pipe !
I thought they were already using old engine oil from their trucks for frying…
Wow!! This is really cool. This gives me another reason to love McD’s.
Previously, I loved them just for the fact that they get millions of people I don’t want to meet to go somewhere I don’t want to go, leaving other places in a much nicer state.
This is the same reason I love Disney.
#2 – Yes. First they use the oil as motor oil. Then they fry in it. Then they burn it as biodiesel.
#1 – Biodiesel won’t smell that way. Cars that do are actually burning the vegetable oil unprocessed. They must first burn some real diesel to get the engine going and to warm up the vegetable oil to the right temperature so that the consistency matches diesel. Then they run the rest of the way on vegetable oil and smell like fries.
Good move by McD. Not that it will bring me back to eating their artificial food (5 minutes, but worth watching).
Btw, I love the picture, Eideard… you can just hear them saying (with tears in their eyes):
#3 – Previously, I loved them just for the fact that they get millions of people I don’t want to meet to go somewhere I don’t want to go, leaving other places in a much nicer state.
*LOL*
The exhaust will smell like ‘french fries’ right?
I don’t think they will do it in the stats. The governement has to get their slice of the pie, so there are big tax penilties for running biodiesel.
Actually, some Carl’s Jr restaurants have decided to do this.
J/P=?
I very occasionally eat McD’s and my “exhaust” doesn’t smell like fries….
#9 – No… It smells like rose petals.
#4: Wow, that has very much put me off eating at good ole McDonald’s (and I am not one to shy away from food easily…..)…. that is just wrong eating something that doesn’t decompose….
…. as for chip oil, I ran a Toyota Townace (Japanese grey market import) off of chip oil and it was great…. when I bought the van it was already long in the tooth and after about six months the fuel pump died and I never figured out if this was a result from the chip oil or it was just the age of the car.
I am thoroughly converted to driving diesel’s now, just because I know there is a back-up fuel if the pumps run dry…..
#10 – That’s just ill…. Granted it’s not military weapons grade like my dog’s, but still….
I don’t know about the price of diesel, but last time I checked, the price for a gallon of Gasoline was over $5 in London.
Its about £0.92 a litre, and there are around 4 litres to gallon so its about £4 a gallon which is about $2…. unfortunately, if you use used chip oil it still costs about the same as the “£)%(*”)£($ government taxes used veggie oil at the same rate…. which is particularly annoying considering that that onto of that you also have to pay a yearly road tax…. hopefully now that McDonald’s is doing it the government will drop the taxes….