Surrey residents are being encouraged to recycle their used cooking oil so their fry-ups can help feed the national grid.

Recycling the material will help reduce the £15m annual cost to the UK of repairing sewers and drains , while reducing the county’s dependency on fossil fuels.

Surrey County Council, in partnership with Sita Surrey and eco-firm Living Fuels, has placed used cooking oil containers, with no cost to taxpayers, at 14 of the county’s community recycling centres for residents to drop off their discarded oil.

The waste cooking oil is then converted in to clean, green carbon neutral electricity, which is then fed into the national grid.

Rob Murphy of Living Fuels said: “When poured down the drain, fat and oil solidifies, causing blockages that are both difficult and expensive to remove.

“This causes all manner of problems for water companies and ultimately UK taxpayers.

“By recycling oil at your local community recycling centre not only are you helping to cut costs, but you are helping the environment, too.“

Visit livingfuels.co.uk to locate your nearest cooking oil collection tank.