Christmas Ham Fat Used to Make Renewable Diesel Fuel
Finnish company Neste Corp. used waste fat from Christmas hams to produce about 2,641 gallons of its renewable diesel fuel, according to the oil refining and marketing firm.
As part of a charity campaign last Christmas called “kinnkkutemppu,” which translates to “ham trick,” Neste refined donated waste fat from 40,000 Finnish households into its MY Renewable Diesel at its Porvoo refinery. The company sold the fuel at its stations and donated the proceeds.
"All together, we received 12,000 kg of waste ham fat, producing enough renewable diesel to travel four times around the globe. This is a huge figure. It is an indication of the interest of Finnish people towards this campaign and the circular economy in general,” Osmo Kammonen, Neste's senior vice president of communications and brand marketing, said in a statement.
About 7 million kilograms of ham are eaten every Christmas in Finland, with excess fat causing problems for households and water treatment plants, the company wrote in an earlier blog post.
“We saw an opportunity in the Christmas tradition of our ham-loving country to show that there are everyday things that can be used to improve the bioeconomy. Or in this case, festive things,” the company wrote.
“The campaign is a good example of how waste and residues can be utilized in energy production and as a raw material for renewable fuels,” Kammonen said.
