Excess waste fat from home-cooked hams and turkeys can be turned into renewable diesel – already tested in Finland

Neste Corporation News 22 November 2018

Over each Thanksgiving season, 46 million turkeys are eaten in the United States. If the waste fat from baking the turkeys in the oven were collected, it could be processed and turned into renewable diesel. In Finland, this is already happening.

Last Christmas, 145,000 Finnish households collected the excess fat from their home-cooked Christmas hams. The collected waste fat was recycled and processed into renewable diesel by the world’s leading renewable fuels company Neste. The amount of processed Neste MY Renewable Diesel™ was enough for a car to drive 400,000 miles.

3,000 times around the globe with Thanksgiving turkey fat?

The waste fat contained in an average-sized ham produces enough fuel for a 1.8-mile drive in a regular car. If all Thanksgiving turkey waste fat in the United States were turned into renewable diesel, it would be enough for a car to drive a whopping 92 million miles. That means more than 3,000 times around the globe.

By producing Neste MY Renewable Diesel from waste fat, the fuel’s carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 80% when compared to conventional fossil diesel.

This Christmas, a Finnish holiday charity campaign, “From Fat to Fuel,” is set to be executed for the third year in a row and has grown into a real national movement. The goal this year is to get 300,000 households on board to recycle excess ham fat, which would cover nearly 17% of the 15 million pounds of ham eaten every Christmas in Finland.

“We are constantly on the lookout for new renewable raw materials that we can turn into low-emission fuels. Our goal with this campaign in Finland is to bring the idea of circular economy closer to consumers, encourage recycling and environmental consciousness, and of course spread some holiday cheer,” says Kaisa Lipponen, Director, Corporate Communications and Brand Marketing at Neste Corporation.

Renewable technology for a cleaner tomorrow

The technology used by the campaign to transform waste fats into diesel is already available and in use on a much larger scale. Neste MY Renewable Diesel is available to public and private fleets in California through authorized distributors.

Further information: Kaisa Lipponen, Director, Corporate Communications and Brand Marketing, tel. +358 50 458 5044, kaisa.lipponen(at)neste.com

More about renewable diesel: https://www.neste.com/en/companies/products/renewable-fuels

From Fat to Fuel Campaign in Finland in brief

The From Fat to Fuel campaign is a cooperative project initiated by the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland. The purpose of the campaign is to bring the circular economy closer to consumers by putting it into practice in a very concrete way. Consumers participate in the campaign by bringing their waste ham fat to collecting points, from where it is then taken to Neste Finland Refinery in Porvoo for using into renewable diesel. The goal is to get hundreds of thousands of Finnish households involved in the campaign. If this year's Ham Trick target is met, EUR 20,000 will be donated to the charity Hope, which helps low-income families. In addition to the Chemical Industry Federation, the other organizations behind the campaign are Neste, Lassila & Tikanoja, Honkajoki, Kesko Corporation, Finnish Packaging Recycling RINKI, Atria, HKScan, Snellman, the Rural Women's Advisory Organisation, the federation of garbage disposal plants Suomen Kiertovoima KIVO and municipal garbage disposal plants, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the Finnish Water Utilities Association FIWA, and Finnish Environmental Industries YTP.

Neste in brief

Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates sustainable solutions for transport, business, and consumer needs. Our wide range of renewable products enable our customers to reduce climate emissions. We are the world's largest producer of renewable diesel refined from waste and residues, introducing renewable solutions also to the aviation and plastics industries. We are also a technologically advanced refiner of high-quality oil products. We want to be a reliable partner with widely valued expertise, research, and sustainable operations. In 2017, Neste's revenue stood at EUR 13.2 billion. In 2018, Neste placed 2nd on the Global 100 list of the most sustainable companies in the world. Read more: neste.com