47 L kg used cooking oil collected from food biz operators since Aug;70% converted into bio-diesel'

New Delhi, Dec 27 () Nearly 47 lakh kilograms of used cooking oil has been collected from food business operators since August and about 70 per cent of the quantity has been converted into bio-diesel, according to an industry body.

The Biodiesel Association of India (BDAI) on Friday conducted an interactive workshop at the National Street Food Festival being held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium from December 25-29.

The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), along with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), is organising the festival.

BDAI President Sandeep Chaturvedi said the collection of used cooking oil from food businesses started from August. FSSAI has set up a web portal RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil) for collection of edible oil.RUCO is a technology platform that gives 100 per cent traceable UCO-based bio-diesel to the oil marketing companies (OMCs).

The RUCO initiative, which is currently running in eight states/UTs, has 11 enrolled bio-diesel manufacturers and four aggregators.

"Total collection recorded till December 24 stood at 46,79,511 Kgs. Around 33,35,469 kgs of bio-diesel have been produced and balance stock of used cooking oil is 13,44,042 kgs," Chaturvedi told reporters.

He said there are about 30 plants for bio-diesel manufacturing.

Chaturvedi said the OMCs are buying bio-diesel at Rs 51 per kg and then blending it with diesel.

He said over 1 million tonnes of bio-diesel can be produced through used cooking oil. The total bio-diesel demand is 45 lakh tonnes per annum for 5 per cent blending.The workshop focused on green initiatives to collect and convert used cooking oil to bio-diesel.

Used cooking oil creates free radicals which attaches to our healthy cells and thus causes serious ailments like heart diseases, bad cholesterol, cancer, and irritable throat. The used cooking oil discharge can also pollute water bodies, freshwater resources and soil. One litre of used oil can contaminate 10,00,000 litres of fresh water."Every used oil collection is recorded and verified with FSSAI registration number of the food business operator. The portal reflects the collection quantity in each city in real time. The aggregated used cooking oil is supplied to the bio-diesel plant who convert it into bio-diesel and supply to the OMCs. All transactions are verified with the GST invoice and E-way Bills," Chaturvedi said.