An Aberdeenshire taxi firm, which has been severely hit by the recent rise in fuel costs, has started using cooking oil dregs to power its cars.
The boss of Elaine’s Taxis, based at Cruden Bay, took drastic action to avoid axeing staff and putting up its fares.
Mother-of-two Elaine Buchan set up a makeshift plant at her home, using equipment bought mostly through eBay, to convert cooking oil into biodiesel.
As well as slashing her £1,400-a-week fuel bill, the move will help safeguard the jobs of her 24 drivers and cut down on carbon emissions.
But now she faces the problem of finding enough cooking oil to keep her motors running.
Yesterday, she appealed to locals and businesses to donate any of their leftover oil.
The 41-year-old said: “At the moment, I'm making enough biodiesel to run two of my cars. It makes no difference to their performance, but it reduces my fuel costs to the amount they were before the prices went crazy.”
Miss Buchan, of Chapel Road, investigated the use of recycled cooking oil online. The process involves mixing the leftover frying liquid with methanol and caustic soda and letting it sit in a vat for eight hours.
Around 150 litres of bio-diesel can be produced from 180 litres of oil. She is registered with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) to collect and use the leftover oil, as well as dispose of the glycerol by-product.
“I'm hoping people will save up their oil, instead of pouring it down the sink or sticking it in the bin.
“I could do a collection once a week and I’d be willing to pay 15p a litre for larger quantities.”
She said: “A few months ago, it would have been a lot easier to get hold of this stuff from local hotels and businesses.
“But these days, there are so many firms who have contracts to supply their oil to bigger companies. I really need the support of local residents with this.”
Miss Buchan is the latest small business owner to benefit from making their own fuel.
Martin Tangey, of the new Biofuel Research Centre at Napier University, said organisations were starting to follow the example set by transport giant Stagecoach, which last year launched a Bio-Bus project in Kilmarnock.
As part of the scheme – the first of its kind in the UK – eight buses ran on 100% biodiesel made from cooking oil.
“With Stagecoach it was a win-win situation,” Mr Tangey said. “They even managed to raise the number of people using these buses by 10%.
“And more and more smaller companies are realising that this is something they can do as well.
“If Miss Buchan is working with Sepa, then she is in very safe hands.”
To donate oil to Elaine’s Taxis call 01779 434343.