A Closed Loop Circular Economy

A Circular Story

ABP’s renewables division, Olleco, is dedicated to recovering value in what would otherwise be considered waste. Olleco is the UK’s leading supplier of premium cooking oils and collector of used cooking oil and food waste. The oil Olleco collects is converted into high-grade biofuels and the food waste collected is transformed into renewable energy and fertiliser. This helps their customers play their part in creating a circular economy.

Olleco, McDonald’s & Arla

Wherever possible, Olleco works in partnership with their customers, examining their needs and establishing the full extent to which they can enhance their sustainability. Working in close conjunction with McDonald’s UK and Arla UK, Olleco brought together their full range of resources to create a circular model. By processing McDonald’s food waste in Olleco’s anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, Olleco generates the renewable heat and power that enabled Arla to create the world’s largest net zero carbon dairy. The milk produced there is used to supply McDonald’s restaurants in trucks powered by the biodiesel Olleco converts from their used cooking oil. Organic fertiliser from the Olleco AD plant is used on farms to grow fresh food while slurry from the livestock on those farms is used to enhance the AD process. This project enabled McDonald’s to reduce their carbon impacts by thousands of tonnes of CO₂e annually and Arla to process over a billion litres of milk per year using only renewable energy. The project went on to win second place at the Circulars Awards at the World Economic Forum 2019 in Davos.

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