Yum China Holdings has become the first restaurant company in China to achieve International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) for its used cooking oil, to be used for biodiesel production, the company announced on 13 May.
“We are very proud to be the first restaurant company in China to supply ISCC certified used cooking oil as a sustainable feedstock for biodiesel production,” said CEO Joey Wat.
Yum China launched its first biodiesel conversion pilot project in October 2018 in in the city of Chengdu to convert all used cooking oil at its KFC restaurants into biodiesel. To comply with the ISCC certification process, it established a data recording and tracking system with local partners (waste collection companies, used oil storage sites and biodiesel plants) to record information concerning the used oil at every stage of the conversion process.
The company said it had planned to selectively roll out the biodiesel conversion initiative nationwide.
“Our pilot biodiesel conversion project and the introduction of the reusable serving baskets in our KFC restaurants underlines our commitment to improving sustainability throughout our value chain, while making a greater positive impact on society and the environment,” Wat said.
The reusable serving baskets, designed to replace 10 types of disposable paper packaging for fries, chicken products and snacks, was introduced in over 6,000 KFC restaurants nationwide in February and were expected to save more than 2,000 tonnes/year of paper.
