A recycling scheme to turn used cooking oil into green electricity is being introduced at four household waste recycling centres in North Yorkshire. The pilot scheme has been devised by North Yorkshire County Council, which owns the centres, together with its contractors, May Gurney, which operates the sites on the council's behalf.

Each year in the UK thousands of tonnes of used cooking oil are poured down the sink, clogging drains and sewers and damaging watercourses. Cleaning up the resulting mess costs approximately £15 million. The oil entering the watercourses would be enough to power 170,000 houses if it was recycled instead.

The cooking oil will be refined into a biofuel and used to create green electricity. One litre of biofuel generates enough clean electricity to make 240 cups of tea, whilst one tonne provides enough to power the average home for an entire year. Using this process to create electricity vastly reduces carbon emissions and reduces the amount of waste going into landfill, meaning that everyone can play a part in building Britain's sustainable future.

The cooking oil containers have been supplied by renewable energy provider, Living Fuels, and are located at the household waste reycling centres in Harrogate, Northallerton, Selby and Ripon. If the pilot scheme is economically viable, the aim is to introduce containers at other centres. To find out more about the used cooking oil recycling process, visit www.livingfuels.co.uk

County Councillor Clare Wood, Executive Member for waste disposal, said: "Using this process to create electricity vastly reduces carbon emissions, meaning that everyone can play a part in building Britain's renewable energy future.

"This initiative is another important step forward in ensuring that we stay ahead of the game in making North Yorkshire a cleaner, greener place for people to live in, work in, and visit."

Locations and the opening times of all household waste recycling centres, and the materials which can be recycled can be found at www.northyorks.gov.uk/hwrc or by calling 0845 8727374.