Toyota Auto Body to Participate in Dakar Rally using 100 Percent BDF Utilizing Waste Cooking Oil with Help from Local Junior High School

Toyota Auto Body Co., a subsidiary of the Toyota group, was presented with waste cooking oil collected by local junior high school students of Fujimatsu Municipal Junior High School of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, on September 27, 2010. The company will participate in the Dakar Rally 2011 with the aim of using 100 percent biodiesel fuel (BDF), and the waste cooking oil will be refined for this purpose.

The Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body (TLC) has won the race for five consecutive years in the market-vehicle segment. It has been participating in the Rally using light oil mixed with 20 percent of BDF since fiscal 2006, and will use 100 percent BDF for the first time at the 2011 race to be held in Argentina-Chile.

The company has collected waste cooking oil from its employees and local people before. It aims to collect more than 7,000 liters this year with the help of TLC supporters. Fujimatsu Junior High School has participated in these activities since 2008.

Prior to the presentation of waste cooking oil, the director of TLC and one of the vehicle navigators made speeches to the first-year students at the school. They talked to the students about the Rally, which is known as the most severe race in the world, and their desire to spread awareness for the environment through the collection of waste cooking oil. Students were also able to see an actual rally car and members of the student volunteer group then presented the waste cooking oil to TLC.

Posted: 2010/12/26 06:00:15 AM