London buses to run on chip fat and food waste

Transport for London is doing its bit to start chipping away at the problem of environmental damage, with a pilot to run London buses on waste cooking oil and chip fat to reduce CO2 emmissions.

It might sound fat-uous, but it’s true: 120 buses on 10 routes will be powered by a 20% blend of biodiesel, including from food waste, and 80% normal diesel.

And Boris Johnson’senvironment adviser Matthew Pencharz has said the scheme could be extended to all buses.

London’s director of buses, Mike Weston, said: “Using biodiesel recycles waste products, reduces carbon emissions, and we hope that by successfully trialling it we will encourage other transport operators to consider using it too.”

However, critics have panned the idea as a gimmick, and said the Mayor should be focusing on converting all buses to electric if he is serious about environmentalism and cleaning up London air pollution.

London buses consume around 250 million litres of fuel a year.