Scottish bus network goes carbon neutral
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
In some places in Scotland you can now get a reduction on your bus fare if you hand over your cooking oil to a recycling plant making bio-fuels.
Stagecoach, Scotland's largest transport company, booked so much success with this green scheme in the past six months, that it is now embarking on a drive to become completely carbon neutral by the end of this year.
Before January 2009, the company will have planted more than 140,000 trees on a plot of land of 60 hectares called Buccleuch Woodlands estates, which is in Southern Scotland. Stagecoach says that the trees will offset all the CO2 produced by the Fife to Edinburgh network of buses until 2013.
This bus network transports 2.4 million passengers a year. For the past six months, Stagecoach has been running eight buses on bio-fuels made from used cooking oil. That project has the makings of a true bartering scheme; in exchange for used cooking oil, passengers get a reduction on travel fares. The scheme is organized at Ayrshire Council recycling plant and has been met with tremendous enthusiasm of the population. Over 21 tonnes of used cooking oil was handed, marking an 100 percent increase over a period of six months.
Global Trees, a Scottish charity, will take care of the trees planted in the Buccleuch Woodlands and the project has been verified by Forest Carbon. Species planted will include conifers and a range of broadleafs and native woodlands.
© M Smith (Veshengro), June 2008
Get a reduced bus fare when you hand over your cooking oil
