Biofuels: can they really save the planet?

Among green innovations, powering buses with old chicken legs is one of the more inventive. The use of 100% sustainable biodiesel made from tallow (rendered animal fat) and used cooking oil has certainly caught the imagination of passengers on Stagecoach's Stewarton-Darvel service. "We've seen an increase in the number of passengers travelling on the route," says Stagecoach spokesman Steven Stewart. The six-month trial has had another green spin-off: in the first two months, 5000 containers for used cooking oil were issued to households along the route, which could then be taken to an East Ayrshire Council recycling centre in return for money-off bus vouchers. Eight tonnes of oil were collected, giving the whole enterprise a pleasingly self-sustaining nature.

The biodiesel comes from Argent Energy near Motherwell, which was the first large-scale biodiesel plant in the UK when it opened in 2005.


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