Out of the frying pan into the car

GREEN Party MP George Perdikis yesterday tabled a law proposal to make it obligatory for restaurants, hotels and other catering companies to save their frying oil so that it can be recycled in to fuel and electricity.

“Pan oil is a renewable source of fuel,” said Perdikis, after submitting his proposal to the House Environment Committee. “But while this energy source can produce fuel for cars and also electricity, it is not used in Cyprus; not in a legal way, anyway.”

According to the MP, hundreds of tons of used pan oil from areas such as the National Guard and hotels are either being disposed of or picked up by dubious companies – as there’s no legal framework – and no one knows where it goes.

“We were told that the oil is illegally used to feed livestock and even to produce fuel,” said Perdikis. “With our proposed law, we are asking for the introduction of regulations that will make it obligatory for this oil to be collected for fuel and electricity production.”

He added that the Committee gave the government until January to present parliament with a specific bill, otherwise the Greens’ law proposal would be tabled for approval.

Perdikis said there were companies ready to take on the job, complete with the necessary substructure.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.