Olleco – Closing the loop from waste to valuable resource

bartlett mitchell’s business relies on great quality food and service but as a company that cares about the environment, they are also keen to manage the waste they produce.

Often, the managing of organic wastes such as cooking oil and food waste is an after-thought but not for our partner bartlett mitchell. We were delighted when they asked us to write this guest blog for them. Let us take you on a journey showing what we do for bartlett mitchell from waste to valuable resource.

Olleco’s organic waste resource recovery business recovers the value of things that others consider to be waste and the resources we collect are converted into bio-fuels, electricity and organic fertiliser.

 You may have seen our vehicles on the road and wondered what they do.

From waste

Used cooking oil and food waste are inevitable outcomes of all food businesses. For bartlett mitchell used cooking oil is a waste that needs to be disposed of safely and legally, for us it is a valuable resource used to make low-carbon transport fuel.

Olleco pick up bartlett mitchell’s used cooking oil on our bespoke vehicles which have been specially designed to collect organic wastes in the safest and easiest way. Our fully trained drivers do not need supervision while onsite and they will leave a waste transfer note to ensure that everyone is compliant with environmental regulations.

What happens next…

To valuable resource

bartlett mitchell’s used cooking oil is taken to one of our depots across the country before being transferred in bulk to our biodiesel plant in Liverpool.

This purpose built facility is the UK’s largest processing site solely dedicated to producing biodiesel from used cooking oil. It features cutting edge technology enabling us to produce EN14214 EU specification low-carbon biodiesel that is ISCC certified.

Circular sustainable solutions

Not only does our facility convert bartlett mitchell’s cooking oil into bio-fuels, but the plant itself is powered by renewable energy from an onsite anaerobic digester. Anaerobic digestion is the process by which food waste is converted into biogas and fertiliser. The biogas is fed into a combined heat and power (CHP) unit to produce heat and electricity to power the facility.

The anaerobic digester runs on food waste collected from our customers, as well as the waste water from the biodiesel process; creating a circular solution for organic waste recovery using on-site power generation.

Closed loop recycling

100% of bartlett mitchell’s used cooking oil is diverted from waterways or landfill, and instead is converted into low-carbon biodiesel. Olleco’s biodiesel is sold to the fuel majors where it is blended for use in forecourts across the UK; this means that if you drive a diesel vehicle, you could be driving on a blend of Olleco biofuel made from bartlett mitchell’s waste oil!

Our biodiesel can also be used by our customers to directly fuel their own vehicles. One large fast food chain utilises Olleco biodiesel to run their distribution fleet – this means that they, and other closed loop customers, are able to fuel their vehicles on biofuels made from the same oil they fried their food in!

Fuel the future

We are developing innovative and circular solutions to the problem of waste; creating low-carbon biofuels, reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and lowering emissions.

Once used to cook food to fuel your customers, bartlett mitchell’s used cooking oil is processed into low-carbon biodiesel to fuel vehicles and generators. And every time an Olleco driver collects bartlett mitchell’s used cooking oil from one of their client site, they are playing an important role in the fight against climate change.

Thank you for working together with us to fuel the future.