By Sascha Cordner
Tallahassee, FL – The Florida National Guard has a new way to fuel some of their state maintenance vehicles. As Sascha Cordner reports, it's all part of a project at the Camp Banding Joint Training Center to convert used cooking oil to create biodiesel.
The vegetable oil is collected at Camp Blanding's Dining Facility in large drums and then transported to a maintenance facility to be converted into biodiesel. Jessika Blersch, the center's sustainability, says it's a great accomplishment.
"For every time you eat French fries, you know that it's been cooked in this vegetable oil that is eventually going to be recycled and used as fuel. So, you know you're getting a tasty comfort food out of it, while also contributing to an alternative fuel program."
Blersch says this cost-saving effort helped save them about a third of what it normally cost to buy regular diesel at a gas station. The program began in January of last year and is just coming out of its pilot stage.