ABP’s renewables division, Olleco, has been awarded the prestigious McDonald’s Sustainable Supplier of the Year Award. The Award recognises the collaboration between the two companies and Olleco’s commitment to McDonald’s global sustainability and responsible sourcing strategy. The announcement was made at the annual McDonald’s supply chain conference, which was attended by more than 300 suppliers from across the UK and Ireland.
Olleco, through its treatment of recovered waste food and cooking oil from McDonald’s UK wide restaurants, has provided the fast food chain with a sustainable circular economy solution for its organic waste. Once collected, these wastes are then converted into biodiesel, which is used to fuel McDonald’s distribution fleet, and biogas which is fed directly into the national grids as renewable energy.
Robert Behan, Managing Director of Olleco said: “We are delighted to have been recognised with this award. We have relished working with the McDonald’s team to develop sustainable solutions based on our unique expertise and technology to convert their organic waste into renewable resources. At Olleco and across the wider ABP Food Group we place great importance on innovation and sustainability. Our vision is 100% resource recovery for the food industry and our work with McDonald’s is a great example of the circular economy in action.”
Simon Duffy, Distribution Manager from McDonald’s said: “The award recognises the fact that Olleco has embraced our global supply chain and sustainability vision.. The Olleco team has exemplified supplier self-managed excellence and has worked tirelessly over the last three years to develop a Total Waste Solution. In the process, they have created innovative game-changing answers to problems and have helped minimise complexity for our restaurant operation and deliver our environmental and sustainability targets.”
Olleco recently announced a €24.5 million investment in its new 15 MW Anaerobic Digestion facility in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. This ground breaking plant converts food waste from the UK Hospitality and Food Service Sector producing enough sustainable energy to power the equivalent of 12,000 homes. This latest innovation joins their state-of-art plant in Liverpool, which produces biodiesel that gives more than a 90% Greenhouse carbon saving compared to regular fossil diesel and meets the strict EU specification EN 14214.