in the Pas-de-Calais, garbage trucks run on frying oil
In the urban community of Béthune-Bruay, frying oil is transformed into biofuel to supply trucks responsible for collecting waste.
Lille
From the fries stand to the garbage truck. This is the short circuit that the community of agglomeration of Béthune-Bruay is slowly putting in place. September 2021, in this sector of Pas-de-Calais (100 municipalities, 280,000 inhabitants), frying oil is recovered almost everywhere to be transformed into biofuel, which then supplies trucks responsible for collecting waste.
“The oils are filtered and water and all impurities are removed using a 100% ecological process.“, explains Michel Millares, the president of Gecco, a northern company which manufactures the fuel.
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For the moment, only two of the 78 garbage trucks in the agglomeration, subject to a change of an engine filter, run on this biodiesel called B-100. 11,000 liters were consumed in 2021 and already more than 15,000 liters since the start of the year. The cost for the community is down about 10% compared to conventional diesel. The B-100 costs less (around €1.30 per litre) but a truck…