Recycling used cooking oil for environmental and educational impact

• Author: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission)
• Pages: 38-39

SOCIAL INNOVATION: INSPIRATIONAL PRACTICES

SUPPORTING PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES

38

© Tiganokinisi, 2011

Tiganokinisi logo on a lorry

Recycling used cooking oil for

environmental and educational impact

Tiganokinisi

Problem addressed

Municipal waste is one of Europe’s major sustainability

challenges. In 2017, only 46.3% of municipal waste in the

EU was recycled (material recycling and composting). Cooking

oil used domestically is one of the major waste streams that

is inadequately managed. This issue is particularly salient

in Cyprus, which has one of the highest levels of municipal

waste generated per person in the EU: more than 2 000

tonnes of used cooking oil is wasted every year in the country.

Innovative solution

Tiganokinisi (loosely meaning ‘frying pan movement’ in

Greek) is an environmental education programme that

transforms used cooking oil into a renewable energy

source. This programme has been developed by the

Cypriot small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) Isotech

and is run by the NGO Akti Project and Research Centre,

in partnership with the Pedagogic Institute of the Cypriot

Ministry of Education and Culture. This partnership

ensures the commitment of schools and has allowed

the programme to gain high-prof‌ile political visibility and

cross-party support.

The programme is based on an innovative circular

bioeconomy model, with schools acting as collection points

for used cooking oil. The Akti Project and Research Centre

sells the used oil to companies, which then transform it

into biodiesel. Prof‌its go back to the schools to be invested

in environmental education and the promotion of green

technological innovation.

Municipalities, central governments, enterprises and the

wider public all play an active part in the programme.

Enterprises, for example, can give their unused cooking

oil to local schools as part of their corporate social

responsibility strategy. In this way, Tiganokinisi goes

beyond the classroom, raising awareness in the wider

community of an urgent environmental concern.

Cyprus