Alcoholes de Uruguay Launches Project to Convert Used Cooking Oil into Biodiesel

The company Alcoholes de Uruguay (Alur) has started a project to convert used cooking oil into biodiesel.

The head of Alur's oleaginous products and derivatives unit, Nicolas Ferrari, has announced that a green-colored "smart" container was already installed to gather used cooking oil in a school in Montevideo and will gradually set up others nationwide. The project is modelled on recycling systems of the company Ekogras.

Alur has already signed agreements with fast-food chains and supermarkets in Montevideo, while other individual collectors are also dispersed in various parts, and will allow people to sell their used cooking oil. Ferrari said Uruguayan society is interested in the program because people do not know what to do with their used oil.

"One liter of oil contaminates 1,000 liters of water and in Uruguay each inhabitant uses an average of 15 liters year, 3 of which end up as waste," he said. Awareness-raising and education are part of this recycling initiative.