COOKING oil will be helping to power the National Grid – thanks to a new scheme introduced at a Basingstoke recycling centre.

Eco-firm Living Fuels has teamed up with Hampshire County Council and Hopkins Recycling Ltd to place a cooking oil collection tank at the Wade Road Recycling Centre.

The used cooking oil is converted by Living Fuels into a biofuel called LF100 which is used to produce electricity at its power plants across the UK.

The company say that one tank of oil will produce enough electricity to power a home for a year, and one litre of used cooking oil creates enough power to make 240 cups of tea.

The scheme has been welcomed by Hampshire County Council environment chief Councillor Mel Kendal, who said: “Hampshire residents are excellent recyclers, and thanks to Hopkins Recycling, our contractors who have instigated this trial with the help of Living Fuels, it is great news that we can offer them a way to dispose of used cooking oil conveniently and safely, and that this waste can be recycled to generate green energy.”

Living Fuels operations director Rob Murphy said: “The recovery of waste vegetable oil into our chemical-free bioliquid, and subsequent electricity generation and capture of heat, means a higher recovery of energy, making this process the most sustainable way of recycling used cooking oil.”