McDonald’s used cooking oil recycling makes positive impact
On July 11, 2025 we celebrated National French Fry Day by giving a special MAHALO shoutout to McDonald’s, not only for their famous French Fries, but for helping to make a positive impact on Planet Earth and our local green economy.
McDonald’s locations throughout Hawaiʻi have been recycling their used cooking oil (UCO) with Pacific Biodiesel for nearly 15 years, keeping this waste out of local landfills. We utilize Hawaiʻi’s UCO to produce biodiesel at our refinery on Hawaiʻi Island – every drop of the 6 million gallons of biodiesel we annually produce for Hawaiʻi, stays in Hawaiʻi.
So, how much impact do those McDonald’s fries make?
We estimate:
- 94,000 gallons of biodiesel were produced from the UCO we recycled from McDonald’s locations throughout the state in the last 12 months alone.
- Nearly 2 million pounds – or 900 metric tons – of CO2 was prevented from entering our atmosphere when that clean-burning biodiesel was used in diesel engines around our state – from electricity production to powering boats, cars and trucks.
- That prevention of greenhouse gas emissions is equal to eliminating from our local roads 6 mass transit buses fueled with fossil diesel for an entire year!
McDonald’s sustainability commitment is described on their website: “We believe that reducing emissions and adapting to climate change is critical to helping improve the resiliency of the McDonald’s System. We work toward our climate action ambitions by focusing on reducing emissions in restaurant operations, engaging suppliers to reduce emissions in supply chains, strengthening our business resilience and using our voice to advocate for collective transformation.”
