What can be produced from used cooking oil? Can the waste from cooking french fries really fuel cars or even airplanes? How does the process work? And how can used cooking oils help reduce climate emissions? To answer these questions, journalist Nick Van Mead speaks to Erwan Hemery, Global Used Cooking Oils Lead at Neste, the leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.

What are used cooking oils?

Used cooking oils (UCOs), as the name suggests, are oils that have been used for cooking or frying food. They can come from restaurants, from food industry factories or from households.

Collecting used cooking oils removes them from the waste stream. Otherwise, waste oils are just thrown away or tipped down the sink into the sewage system – in which case they may cause major problems such as the notorious London fatberg, for example.

There is also a benefit to food safety from preventing used cooking oils re-entering food production - cooking oil can only be used a certain number of times before it becomes unfit for human consumption for food hygiene reasons.

What can used cooking oils be used for?

Used cooking oils can be refined into renewable fuels – a drop-in solution to replace fossil fuels – or used to produce raw material for polymers and chemicals, which can then be turned, for example, into more sustainable, bio-based plastics.

Waste and residues, such as used cooking oil, are an important means to help reduce our reliance on fossil resources. “For example, Neste’s renewable products help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 95%* over the life cycle of the product compared to similar products from fossil origins”, explains Hemery.

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