In Japan, planes will now run on recycled cooking oils

Recent legislation on aviation fuels will make used cooking oil a valuable commodity, as airlines are encouraged to source recycled fuels.

Who would have thought that your used cooking oils would soon be taking off planes? In Japan, supermarkets are starting to ask their customers to return these used oils to the store, to be redistributed to airlines that want to produce cleaner fuels.

In Tokyo, a district is at the forefront on this subject. The district of Ota, very close to Haneda airport – one of the two major airports in the Japanese capital – has just signed, this December, a major agreement with the airline company Japan Airlines and chains of supermarkets. The town hall explains to the population that it is about doing, for almost nothing, a gesture for the planet.

For populations, nothing could be simpler: you just need to invest in a white and green airtight bottle which costs 200 yen, that is to say 1 euro 30. Each time you have used and even reused your frying oil – to cook tempura fritters or tonkatsu, breaded pork fillets – you will need to let it cool and transfer it to the bottle. The next time you go to the supermarket, you will pour your oil into a large special container located at the entrance. A free process, not a deposit system.

All these cans are then collected and sent to a factory which will filter the oil, remove all the impurities and then refine it to transform it into kerosene for the planes at Haneda airport. The challenge is above all to produce more SAF – “sustainable airplane fuel” – which could be translated into French as “sustainable aviation fuel“. A recycled fuel that airlines will be increasingly obliged to use.

Several countries, and in particular the European Union, have put in place very strict regulations so that this SAF gradually replaces conventional petroleum-based kerosene. Experts assure that this recycled fuel would reduce CO2 emissions from aviation by 60%, which has been particularly criticized in recent years for its greenhouse gas emissions.

The demand for used oil will soon explode all over the world. However, many countries are unable to collect enough oil to manufacture this SAF. They are therefore forced to import it from Malaysia or China, at high prices and in sometimes quite dubious conditions.