KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — The Plantation and Commodities Ministry (KPK), in partnership with Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PDB), targets to collect 300,000 kilogrammes (kg) of used cooking oil (UCO) in 2024 under the UCO Collection Programme.

Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said KPK and PDB plan to expand the collection network to 50 Petronas petrol stations nationwide and to attract the participation of 15,000 members of the public.

“From July 2023 until February 2024, a total of 205,000kg of UCO was collected from 35 Petronas stations with the participation of 11,593 members of the public,” he said when launching the UCO Collection Programme at the Desa Pandan Ramadan bazaar here today in conjunction with the “Ikhlas Ramadan bersama Gas Petronas” programme.

During Ramadan, Petronas and KPK have agreed to expand the UCO Collection Programme to selected Ramadan bazaars, including in Selangor such as in USJ4, Bandar Kinrara, Puchong Prima and Puncak Jalil (PUJ3).

Johari said Petronas is offering to purchase UCO for RM3 per kg in the peninsula except in the West Coast and East Coast as well as Sabah and Sarawak, where the price is set at RM2.50 per kg.

“The programme is a joint effort between PDB and KPK to raise public awareness on protecting the environment.

“At the same time, the programme can generate additional income for households and expand the potential of sustainable biofuel production using UCO to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

He said the programme represents a proactive measure by Petronas specifically and the country in general to prepare for the commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) towards meeting the carbon neutral growth target for the international aviation sector.

Speaking to reporters later, Johari said PDB is studying the setting up a SAF plant and this can be seen through the UCO recycling culture being promoted nationwide.

“The aim of the programme is to cultivate a certain disposal culture for used cooking oil, which actually has value and should not be thrown away indiscriminately into the drains, outdoors and at rubbish dumps.

“Through this cooking oil, we can have a new economic cycle with the oil being reprocessed (as feedstock) to produce SAF that is used to power flights,” he said. — Bernama