Restaurant Waste Oil Will Now Fuel FreshDirect's Trucks
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Tri-State Biodiesel, Brooklyn's first major producer of biodiesel fuel, has reached an agreement with mobile grocer FreshDirect to provide its entire fleet of trucks with a clean-burning biodiesel fuel blend.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Tri-State Biodiesel, Brooklyn’s first major producer of biodiesel fuel, has reached an agreement with mobile grocer FreshDirect to provide its entire fleet of trucks with a clean-burning biodiesel fuel blend, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. By February, Tri-State expects to have all of FreshDirect’s 150 trucks running on B-5 fuel, a blend of 5 percent biodiesel (in this case, waste oil from restaurants) and 95 percent standard diesel.
FreshDirect provides produce to more than 250,000 customers in the New York area. The agreement essentially means that the company’s trucks will be powered, partially, by the product they deliver.
The fuel is made by collecting waste oil from restaurants around the city, a service that Tri-State has provided for free since it was founded in 2004. The company now collects oil from over 1,400 facilities in the city.
Tri-State estimates that FreshDirect’s switch to the B-5 blend will reduce its yearly carbon emissions by 7.5 million pounds. The company eventually hopes to switch FreshDirect’s fleet to a blend with a higher biodiesel to diesel ratio after the winter.
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