WIREDGOV

Used cooking oil and other food waste products are being used to fuel more than 120 buses in London.

Stagecoach Barking depot now use 80 per cent regular diesel and 20 per cent biodiesel in a pilot scheme that could be rolled out across the entire Transport for London (TfL) bus fleet in the future.

The Capital's bus network is one of the largest in the world, carrying 2.3 billion passengers annually. With this figure set to increase over the coming years, it's important to make the fleet as environmentally friendly as possible.

Mike Weston, TfL's Director of Buses, said: 'The introduction of buses powered by biodiesel is a significant development in our wider programme to continually improve the green credentials of the Capital's bus fleet and encourage other transport operators to consider using it too.'

Matthew Pencharz, the Mayor's senior advisor for environment and energy, added: 'This is another example of the Mayor's commitment to cutting carbonemissions, and an important step in demonstrating to the UK's biodiesel industry that there is a huge potential demand for a large scale biodiesel refinery in the Capital.'

The biodiesel pilot is one of the many measures the Mayor has introduced to make London's bus fleet greener.

Other initiatives include operating zero-emission hydrogen buses on Route RV1 between Covent Garden and Tower Gateway, and delivering Europe's largest hybrid bus fleet.

Five hundred hybrid buses now operate on the Capital's roads, including the New Bus for London vehicles.

By 2016 there will be more than 1,700 hybrid buses in service, representing 20 per cent of the total bus fleet.

What is biodiesel?
Biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning fuel made from used cooking oil from the catering industry and tallow, which is a residue from the meat processing trade.

It is estimated that buses running on biodiesel cut carbon emissions by 15 per cent compared to an ordinary diesel-powered bus.

A total of 10 routes that operate from the Barking depot run on the new fuel. A 50,000-litre storage tank has been installed at the garage, enabling the biofuel to be mixed on-site, reducing costs and lowering carbon emissions.