RECYCLING paper and aluminium cans is old hat in Selby – people can now recycle the oil they’ve used to fry their bacon in.

The recycling scheme to turn used cooking oil into green electricity is being introduced at four household waste recycling centres in North Yorkshire, one of which is Selby.

The pilot scheme has been devised by North Yorkshire County Council in partnership with contractors May Gurney, which operates the sites on the council’s behalf. Selby people wanting to recycle their cooking oil can now take it to the waste site and pour it into one of the containers provided. It will then be refined into biofuel and used to create green electricity by renewable energy provider, Living Fuels which has provided the containers for the recycling centres.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said 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 and the oil entering the watercourses would be enough to power 170,000 houses if it was recycled instead.

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.”

Selby’s waste recycling site is in Canal Road. The other recycling sites taking part in the pilot are in Harrogate, Ripon and Northallerton.