McDonald’s recycles used oil to power delivery trucks

Hardcastle Restaurants, the master franchisee for American fast food chain McDonald’s in west and south India, is using biodiesel made from used cooking oil to power its refrigerated supply delivery trucks, as part of its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

HRPL started the project as a pilot last year and has successfully scaled it to all its 85 restaurants in Mumbai. The company claims that it converts more than 35,000 litres of used cooking oil into biodiesel every month. “The process of conversion begins at the restaurant where the team from the distribution centre collects used cooking oil. The collected oil is then taken to the converting facility in tankers. Here, the oil is converted into biodiesel and sent back to the distribution centre,” said the company in a statement.

HRPL is looking at expanding its restaurant footprint to 450-500 over the next four years. “What this essentially means is using about 15 lakh litres of used oil to make biodiesel for running its refrigerated delivery trucks. That’s a reduction of over 4,000 MT of carbon emissions equal to planting about 2 lakh trees,” says the company.

“We strongly believe in protecting our environment and that makes sustainability and conservation an important part of our operations in India,” said Amit Jatia, vice-chairman, Westlife Development Ltd, which owns HRPL.

According to McDonald’s, the company has committed to make a 31% reduction in emissions intensity (per metric ton of food and packaging) across its global supply chains.