Used cooking oil powers tourism companys vehicle fleet

A Canterbury, New Zealand tourism company is using recycled canola oil from restaurants to power its vehicles. Hassle-free Tours has converted all its eight vehicles, including two six-wheel drives and a Unimog, to biodiesel manufactured at a plant in Addington, New Zealand. The company, which was established in May 2003 and takes visitors on tours of the Canterbury high country, is thought to be the first tourism operator in Canterbury to make a complete switch. Owners Mark Gilbert and Nikki Marsh said it was important that New Zealand lived up to its clean, green image and tourism operators must take steps to reduce their carbon emissions. “The places that we go into are so amazing that we want to make sure we leave as little footprint as we can,” Marsh said. (October 27, 2007)