ENERGY conscious residents will be able to recycle cooking oil for use in electricity generation.

Used oil can be brought to one of the Bucks County Council recycling centres where it can be poured into collection tanks.

It will then be processed into a usable form by a company called Living Fuels.

Bucks county councillor Martin Tett, whose portfolio covers waste management, said: "It's so easy to be careless and pour old cooking oil down the drain or sink but this is both wasteful and damaging to the environment.

“Each of the collection tanks at our nine Buckinghamshire sites has a capacity of 1,000 litres and 9,000 litres of used cooking oil could generate enough electricity to power seven average UK homes for a year.

“I would really encourage householders to use this service, as it will help to protect the environment and generate renewable power."

Rob Murphy of Living Fuels said: "Every time another collection service is launched, it's an opportunity to get over the message that used cooking oil causes major environmental damage when poured down the sink.

“It costs water companies literally millions to clear blockages caused in sewers by this build-up of oils."

He said that the company's collection vehicles had been converted to run on the processed cooking oil.

There are recycling centres in the following locations:

London Road East, Amersham

London Road, Lower Pyebushes, Beaconsfield

Wigans Lane, Bledlow Ridge

High Heavens, Clay Lane, Booker