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NEXT time you fire-up a barbecue at a public park you may be helping fuel a council truck.<\/p>\n
The fat that drips off your steaks and snags will be collected and sent to a biofuel plant where it will be turned into biofuel which will then be pumped into light trucks owned by Mackay Regional Council.<\/p>\n
It may sound like a novel idea, but Year 11 and 12 engineering students at Mackay\u2019s CQ TAFE campus are building a biofuel plant which will do exactly that.<\/p>\n
The portable biofuel plant will be built to Australian standard to produce 3500 litres of biodiesel a week.<\/p>\n
About 200 litres of biodiesel would be needed to run four light council trucks a week.<\/p>\n
The biofuel plant will cost about $60,000 and take a year to build and already many businesses have pledged support.<\/p>\n
Hahn Environmental Services are about to set up in Mackay and will distribute cooking oil bins at takeaway shops to provide students with cooking oil to process at the plant.<\/p>\n
Fat from barbecues in parks will also be collected.<\/p>\n
Co-ordinator of the program and CQ TAFE teacher Paul Kelly said the project provided the students with the skills they needed to land an apprenticeship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge shortage in tradespeople so we went to industry and said \u2018what do you want your first year apprentices to have learnt\u2019?<\/p>\n
They want them to have basic workshop skills and to have done project work. It helps with the skills shortage \u2013 everyone wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councillor Karen May said the project was also great for ratepayers.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor council, there are two wins \u2013 we\u2019re not paying for disposal of barbecue fat and there\u2019s the cost saving on hundreds of litres of diesel per week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kelly said no modifications needed to be made to trucks \u2013 in fact, they actually ran more efficiently on biodiesel than regular diesel.<\/p>\n
Cr May said council had sponsored about $7000 worth of equipment for the plant and would continue to offer health, safety and environmental advice.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kelly said businesses had already expressed interest in putting on the students as apprentices next year.<\/p>\n
He said 85% of students who completed a Certificate II in Engineering at the TAFE over the last two years had got an apprenticeship.<\/p>\n