⁍ Waste oils from the hospitality sector are being seen by governments as a replacement for traditional fossil fuel-based products.

---

⁍ For the first time, waste oils are being blended into the energy mix for use in road transport, marine fuels and other diesel applications.

---

⁍ Europe imports around 1.4 million tons per year of used cooking oils from Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.

---

– Want to help fight climate change? Just eat at a restaurant or takeaway instead of shelling out for a fossil-fuel-based meal. That’s the idea behind a new study out of the UK that finds restaurants that use used cooking oil can cut their greenhouse-gas emissions by up to a third, the Guardian reports. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, found that by using vegetable oil instead of fossil fuel, restaurants can cut carbon emissions by up to 87%, while using animal fat instead of vegetable oil can cut emissions by up to 60%. “The economics of using waste oils as energy feedstocks are starting to work,” a researcher at the University of Middlesex tells the Guardian. “It’s a win-win for both the restaurant and the environment.” Restaurants that use used cooking oil can get a higher price for the oil than they would if they used crop oil or animal fat, and the oil can be sold to energy companies for use in everything from road transport to marine fuels. China is the biggest supplier of used cooking oil to Europe, which imports 1.4 million tons of it per year, according to Scientific Reports.