McDonald`s Fleet Rack Up 5,000,000 km on 100% Recycled Vegetable Oil

Would you like fries with that? It’s the question that McDonald’s is famous for across the globe. While most people generally associate the iconic fast food chain with burgers, shakes and all things greasy, McDonald’s UAE has just won itself status as a seriously inspirational eco-warrior. On December 15, the fleet of McDonald’s logistics trucks hit an impressive milestone. What was the occasion? The fleet racked up a huge 5,000,000 km on 100% recycled vegetable oil sourced directly from McDonald’s outlets across the UAE.     

Maccas pioneers UAE biofuel revolution

Thanks to its valiant eco efforts, the US owned fast food chain has now become the unlikely face of the UAE biodiesel revolution. According to figures from the World Bank, the company’s efforts offset the average annual carbon footprints of 214,283 UAE citizens. It’s a huge achievement, and sets a fantastic example for both the fast food industry, and other companies wanting to minimise their environmental impact. The initiative kicked off back in July 2011, with Dubai FDI supporting the cause. As the foreign investment promotion branch of the Department of Economic Development, the FDI saw the waste recycling project as a great way to attract attention from overseas investors.

Setting an eco-example

Already, other nations are standing up and taking notice, with the latest 2015 DEFRA conversion factors from the UK Government estimating that McDonald’s UAE has saved 99% of its CO2 by switching its fleet to biodiesel.

While driving the 5,000,000km on normal diesel would have racked up 4,427,759kg worth of CO2, the use of biodiesel cut the fleet’s carbon footprint to just 56,385kg.  

Biofuel is the future, however the world still hasn’t shaken its thirst for crude. ‘Fast Gasoline Characterisation by Optimising Multi-Dimensional GC (PIONA+)’ explores the use of gas chromatographic-based techniques such as multi-dimensional gas chromatography (MDGC). The author hones in on the way in which gasoline characterisation can be optimised through smart manipulation of the interaction between individual columns using the PIONA+™ Analyser. The use of column optimisation can reduce analysis time by up to 40%, without jeopardising the analytical performance.