Taiwan: Used cooking oil to be turned into biodiesel

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) announced that starting from July each household will be required to recycle their waste cooking oil that will go into the production of biodiesel.

Made from waste cooking oil or rapeseed and soy, biodiesel can be used in place of or mixed with regular diesel as fuel in machinery to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.

Garbage trucks this July will begin carrying bins to collect waste cooking oil from the public, who will be prohibited from mixing other kinds of waste into the oil.
Those not complying with the new mandatory policy will face a fine of NT$1,200.

According to EPA statistics, Taiwan produces between 7 to 8.5 metric tons of waste cooking oil each year, with fast food restaurants, food factories, schools, restaurants, and food stalls making up 80 percent of the total.

Households account for 20 percent of Taiwan’s waste cooking oil.

Recycling efforts so far have yielded only two metric tons of waste cooking oil a year, according to the EPA.

China Post