UAE, Dubai – 21 February 2012 – Dubai Road and Transport Authority (RTA) has recognized McDonald’s UAE and Neutral Fuels for their commitment to sustainable transport by awarding them with a 2011 Dubai Award for Sustainable Transport (DAST), in the ‘Environmental Protection Category’. The award was presented by His Highness
Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai to representatives from McDonald’s UAE and Neutral Fuels for the recent biodiesel initiative, which saw McDonald’s convert its used vegetable cooking oil into biodiesel for its fleet of logistics trucks.
The award highlights the vital role that McDonald’s UAE and Neutral Fuels have played in fostering and promoting sustainable transport systems in the Emirate, whilst supporting the RTA’s objectives of developing solutions, systems and practices of sustained transport.
McDonald’s UAE launched its biodiesel initiative in July 2011, as the first ‘closed loop’ system which takes 100% of the used vegetable cooking oil from its restaurants to provide 100% biodiesel to 100% of the trucks. The initiative saw McDonald’s UAE partnering with Neutral Fuels, the first and only licensed biorefinery in the Middle East, to provide the efficient collection, recycling, and conversion of McDonald’s used cooking vegetable oil into biodiesel which the company then uses in its logistics fleet.
Mr. Rafic Fakih, Managing Director and Partner of McDonald’s UAE commented “We are honoured to have been recognised by the RTA for our biodiesel initiative. At McDonald’s UAE, we are constantly looking at ways to protect the environment and reduce our carbon footprint, and judging by the success of our biodiesel initiative, this is a step in the right direction. With this award, we hope to encourage other companies to continue to invest in sustainable transport initiatives in the future.”
Karl Feilder, Chairman & CEO of Neutral Fuels comments, “McDonald’s is doing the right thing by contributing towards an important environmental shift in the Middle East. This initiative is tightly aligned with the ethical, environmental and economic values which form the core of their corporate sustainability strategy. Our highly
efficient process, the first of its kind in the Middle East, has achieved worldwide recognition since its launch in 2011, differentiating Neutral Fuels from every other biorefinery and giving McDonald’s a significant economic advantage for their fuel related transportation costs.”
Biodiesel is a cleaner alternative to other energy sources as it is made from organic sources such as vegetable oils and produces better environmental performance of diesel engines.