Today, PT Tirta Investama (Danone AQUA) together with BUMDes Panggung Lestari inaugurated Collaborative Development of Refined Used Cooking Oil (R-UCO) as an alternative to diesel fuel for industrial machinery, at Panggungharjo Village Hall, Sewon, Bantul Regency, DI Yogyakarta. R-UCO is a waste frying former commonly known as cooking oil, which has been through the process of purification. This activity was opened by Bambang Guritno SH, Assistant II of Economy and Development of Bantul Regency with Director of Sustainable Development, Danone Indonesia, Karyanto Wibowo and all stakeholders involved in R-UCO development for the industry.
The R-UCO development program is part of the implementation of Danone AQUA's commitment to contribute to mitigating climate change by setting a zero carbon emission target by 2050. Karyanto who attended the event said that the program is a tangible proof of Danone AQUA's support to the government's target to reduce the footprint carbon by 29 percent in 2030 under a business-as-usual scenario, and by 41 percent with international and private assistance. "Danone AQUA is part of a business entity that actively undertakes initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint resulting from its business operations by reducing energy consumption and renewable energy use such as solar and R-UCO," Karyanto said.
As a company that produces carbon emissions, Karyanto said that Danone AQUA wants to be a leader in carbon emissions reduction initiatives by producing products with no carbon footprint (zero emission).
"Since 2014, Danone AQUA has been using R-UCO produced by BUMDes Panggung Lestari, to be mixed with diesel fuel at Klaten Plant .. Currently, R-UCO volume is used as much as 20% of total demand for genset, forklift and boiler operations While in 2018, the Klaten plant plans to use 100% R-UCO to replace diesel fuel, "Karyanto said.
According to Bambang, Bantul Regency supports Danone AQUA collaboration and BUMDes Panggung Lestari. "This effort is in line with the government's target to reduce the carbon footprint. Therefore, the collaboration done with BUMDes to add new machines that can increase the production volume and quality of R-UCO in order to have the same specifications with diesel, should be appreciated, "added Bambang.
Village Head of Panggungharjo Village, Wahyudi explained that his team designed equipment to produce and improve the quality of R-UCO. "We do it using cracking or pyrolysis techniques". Wahyudi further said that with the pyrolysis process, organic waste of its citizens become manageable because it is used as fuel for the process. "This program can also mobilize TPST3R (Integrated Waste Management Site Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) village," he said.
Waste cooking oil as R-UCO raw material is obtained from the villagers of Panggungharjo Village, Bantul and added from other locations in Yogyakarta, Gunung Kidul to Purworejo. Wrapped cooking oil, which is usually disposed of directly and polluting the environment, has the value of benefits to be reprocessed. In addition, this program can reduce recycled cooking oil that is reconditioned and reused for household consumption which is very dangerous to health.