Dubai-based Neutral Fuels, an expert in converting used cooking oil into biodiesel, has partnered with McDonald’s Australia to launch a new biodiesel processing facility in the Australian state of Victoria.

The new facility located just outside Melbourne, will see waste cooking oil being converted into biodiesel for fueling McDonald’s vehicle fleet right across Victoria. This will significantly reduce carbon emissions and making environmental sustainability a commercial proposition.

Neutral Fuels' Australia launch comes after the success of its first pilot program in Dubai with McDonald’s Middle East for converting waste cooking oil collected from McDonald’s restaurants into biodiesel for use in its delivery vehicles.

The first such facility was set up in the Dubai Investment Park, with the capacity to produce one million litres per annum.

Following the success of the pilot program, Neutral Fuels has now been commissioned to roll out 16 additional bio-fuel production facilities over the next three years. Three of these facilities will be in Australia, with the first now established in Dandenong, Victoria.

Speaking at the official launch, Victoria’s Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, Louise Asher, said, “Neutral Fuels originally developed this process in the Middle East where it has been very successful and it is now expanding into Victoria. This investment will create new jobs and add to the vast range of innovative companies we have in Victoria.”

She was addressing the gathering in the presence of representatives from McDonald’s Australia and Karl W. Feilder, Neutral Fuels CEO and the chairman.

"Neutral Fuels has been working very closely with the Victorian Government Business Office in Dubai. The realisation of Neutral Foods investing in Victoria is a clear example of the benefits of our International Engagement Strategy which focuses on seeking investment opportunities into Victoria from international markets, such as the UAE, that have been identified as having further interest in Victorian investment," she stated.

Lauding McDonald’s for its support to the innovative clean technology in Victoria, Asher said such initiatives should help in encouraging other companies to think of these types of innovations and investment into the state.

Neutral Fuels now has waste collection sites at 106 McDonald’s restaurants across Victoria with plans in place to service the remaining 105 restaurants by early 2013, she added.

The Victorian Government Business Office has worked closely with Neutral Fuels to help facilitate the partnership with McDonald’s Australia. Melbourne has been chosen given it is a strong market for McDonald’s in the geographical region of Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA).

John Butler, the commissioner to the Mena for the State Government of Victoria, said: “Victoria offers a competitive and dynamic business environment, along with a  skilled and innovative workforce. We have worked very closely with Neutral Fuels to help make their investment into the State a seamless one and we are proud to be welcoming them to Victoria.”

“There has been a lot of hard work and investment from both sides to make this happen and we now look forward to watching the growth of Neutral Fuels and supporting their future trade and investment plans in our state,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service