Japan has seen an increase in efforts to recycle used cooking oil — a byproduct of supermarkets and cafeterias — as biodiesel to use as a substitute for light diesel oil fuel for vehicles.
Improvements in purification techniques have allowed biodiesel to be almost as fuel-efficient as light oil. There are high expectations for this mode of energy recycling since it has the additional benefits of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
In October, NGK Insulators Ltd., based in Nagoya, experimented with biodiesel in one of is forklifts used for moving goods at the company's ceramics plant.