Trucks powered by discarded chocolate

A Preston, Lancashire-based biodiesel specialist is turning the chocolate rejected by UK manufacturers into truck fuel. Ecotec is testing its fuel by using it to run a truck driving from London to Timbuktu, in Mali, but has already started selling the biodiesel from a pump at its fuel plant. The company says one of the advantages of making fuel from chocolate that has been discarded because it is chipped or damaged is that it is an effective form of recycling, unlike using crops grown specifically for fuel.

It is also cheaper than ordinary diesel. Ecotec sells it from the pump for 90p/lit but can sell hauliers equipment to make the diesel at a total cost of around 40p/lit. Sales and marketing manager Andrew Hodgson says equipment to produce 1,000 litres per day costs £10,000-£11,000 to buy. The difficulty for hauliers is that truck manufacturers attach strict regulations to the use of biofuel and will not honour warranties if these regulations are broken.

 

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