McDonald’s Oman (Al Daud Restaurants LLC) has embarked on a clean-technology venture, in which used cooking oil is converted into eco-friendly bio-diesel to fuel its fleet of delivery trucks. The initiative is a joint effort between McDonald’s Oman and Coeja Eco Solutions.
Ali K Daud, Development Licensee and President of McDonald’s Oman said: “We are proud to adopt such an environmental initiative which reduces carbon emissions of our fleet of vehicles by 75 per cent. McDonald’s Oman is just as committed as its counterparts in countries like the USA, the United Kingdom and the UAE to be a responsible environment-friendly citizen and this is one big step in the right direction. With this initiative, McDonald’s Oman is paving the way for other corporations in the Middle East to follow suit”, Daud said.
Coeja Eco Solutions in partnership with Neutral Logistics shall collect all the used cooking oil from all McDonald’s restaurants and convert it to 100 per cent bio-diesel for use in diesel combustion engines for vehicles.
“This is a bold step in the right direction for McDonald’s Oman and we admire their leadership. Hopefully their initiative shall encourage other businesses in Oman to take Corporate Social Responsibility seriously. Sustainability for businesses is key, not only for keeping costs down but also for the positive impact on the environment and the consumers’ perception of the company,” Talal al Hassan, local partner of Coeja Eco Solutions said.
Karl W Feilder, CEO of The Neutral Group, said that forming the Neutral Logistics venture furthered the aims of both McDonald's and The Neutral Group to create an increasingly sustainable fuel future in the Gulf region. “Converting used cooking oil into bio-diesel is by far the most useful thing that can be done with it. Bio-diesel is catching on in the Middle East as a positive alternative to mineral diesel”.
Bio-diesel has a much lower carbon footprint than normal diesel. Studies have shown that the exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas from bio-diesel are about 47 per cent lower than carbon monoxide emissions from diesel.