CELEBRATIONS were held at a Fenland recycling centre to praise the efforts of Cambridgeshire residents who have collected a massive 32,000 litres of used cooking oil.

Used cooking oil banks were placed at nine household recycling centres across the county in 2008, in a joint venture between Cambridgeshire County Council and waste management company Donarbon Ltd.

The oil is collected by renewable energy company Living Fuels, which filters and transforms it into a green bioliquid renewable fuel used to produce combined heat and electricity.

The 32,000 litre milestone was toasted at Whittlesey’s household recycling centre last Tuesday (April 12), as county council staff joined representatives from Living Fuels, Donarbon and Fenland Recycling to show how cooking oil is collected.

Gifford Lewis, the county council’s head of waste management, said: “This recycling scheme has been a great success and is part of our continued efforts to help our residents recycle as much as possible.

“Cambridgeshire is one of the top recycling counties in the country and I would like to thank residents for helping us to recycle over 53% of our waste.

“Recycling makes sense as it helps us reduce our impact on the environment and saves public money that would otherwise be spent dumping waste in landfill.”

Rob Murphy, Living Fuels’ Operations Director, said: “We would like to thank all Cambridgeshire residents for their excellent efforts in recycling old cooking oil.

“The amount we have collected from Cambridgeshire recycling banks since 2008 has been used to generate enough carbon neutral electricity to make 7.5 million cups of tea, that’s around 12 � cups per person in the county, or bake around 128,000 Victoria sandwich cakes.”

All nine household recycling centres in Cambridgeshire have used cooking oil banks, where members of the public can bring old oil free of charge.

The nine centres are:

• Alconbury, Woodwalton Road

• Bluntisham, Heath Road

• Grunty Fen, Pools Road

• March, Hundred Road

• Milton, Butt Lane

• St. Neots, Marston Road

• Thriplow, Gravel Pit Hill

• Whittlesey, New Road

• Wisbech, Boleness Road