Say what you want about McDonald’s (and folks around the world have plenty to say), at least they’re experimenting with environmental responsibility. In the UK, anyway.
The world’s largest fast food chain is currently undertaking two experiments. First, McDonald’s is finally doing what many companies have done–turning to biodiesel as an environmentally friendly fuel source. Sorry “grease car” enthusiasts, the burger peddlers won’t be capitalizing on their abundance of used fryer oil by using it to power their fleet. Still, McDonald’s UK has pledged to run all of its 155 delivery trucks on biodiesel by 2008, drastically cutting down on harmful emissions. 
Second, 11 McDonald’s in South Yorkshire are now experimenting with turning food waste to energy. Their refuse would power 130 buildings while preventing tons of food from being sent to the landfill.
While the article doesn’t come out and say it, this burgers to biogas scheme probably uses anaerobic digestion, the process of converting waste into methane and carbon dioxide that can be harnessed. Imagine if all of the 31,000 McDonald’s worldwide produced energy instead of 100 tons of landfill fodder. Wow.
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