Residents can now take cooking oil to their local household waste recycling centre where processes are in place for the oil to be reused to generate electricity for householders and businesses.

Bucks County Council (BCC) is working in partnership with Living Fuels, which has developed a process for purifying the oil enabling it to be used for the generation of electricity. The used oil is recycled to produce the green fuel LF100.

Residents will be able to safely dispose of their used cooking oil in collection tanks at all recycling centres including the one at Yonder Slade, on the Buckingham Industrial Estate.

Cllr Martin Tett, member for strategic planning and waste at BCC, said: "It is so easy to be careless and pour old cooking oil down the drain or sink, but this is both wasteful and damaging to the environment.

"I would really encourage householders to use this service as it will help to protect the environment and generate reusable power."

He added each of the collection tanks at the recycling centres had a capacity of 1,000 litres, and 9,000 litres of used cooking oil could generate enough electricity to power seven UK homes for a year.

Residents are asked to bring their oil in containers which can be taken home and reused. The service is free and available to householders only.