Our editor lives in the big city, and he tells us that a lot of city dwellers like to take advantage of the services of a grocery delivery company. That’s a difficult concept for us country folk to get our heads around, but we can certainly see the appeal and reasoning. Well, he finds out that one company recently began using a biodiesel blend to power its delivery fleet–so he passes the info along to us. Of course our antennae go up–it’s an interesting story.
According to its website, FreshDirect, a metropolitan New York based online grocer, last year began donating used cooking oil from its kitchen to Tri-State Biodiesel, a New York City company that collects waste vegetable oil for local biodiesel producers. Impressed with the process and its potential, FreshDirect decided to take the next step and fuel-up its fleet with B5 biodiesel (a five percent blend) supplied by Tri-State. “We are committed to make the fleet run as clean-burning and low-impact as possible, our conversion to biodiesel is but one example of our company’s environmental stewardship and support of a sustainable future for New York,” says Adrian Williams, FreshDirect’s Senior Vice President of Transportation.
And, Brent Baker, CEO of Tri-State Biodiesel has this to say on FreshDirect’s website: “We applaud FreshDirect for being a biodiesel pioneer here in New York City. Not only will this transition to clean burning biodiesel fuel result in a big drop in the air pollution levels, but it also helps to bring biodiesel on as a mainstream fuel for the many trucking fleets of the city.”
It’s a neat full-circle story: FreshDirect buys cooking oil and uses it in their daily food preparation business, and when it’s reached the end of its useful cooking life, they donate it for recycling into fuel–and then buy it back to use in their daily food delivery business. Kinda, sorta, almost like the “Circle of Life.”
Keep it up guys, we’re impressed too.
Biodiesel pump – photo Scott Gable
Source: alternativefuels.about.com
