Big Lemon Bus Helps Save the Planet

With Permission - Webmaster

The environmentally-friendly bus that runs on used cooking oil is a familiar sight around the city.

The Big Lemon Bus is a big hit with everyone as it whizzes about town fuelled by waste from the city’s industrial frying equipment. The service is geared up to satisfy the needs that regular public transport cannot address in the city of Brighton and Hove.

Special trips are arranged for high-profile events, like the Reading and Glastonbury Festivals, for the Summer Solstice held at the sacred site
of Stonehenge, and the famous bonfire night in East Sussex’s capital town, Lewes. The Big Lemon leaves and returns at appropriate times, so there’s no chance of missing the last bus home. There are even “pub-crawls” for those who want to have a merry time over a beer or two in some delightful country inns.

The company relies on volunteers to help out in the office, and people are happy knowing that they are investing their time in a worthwhile project. One of The Big Lemon’s most enthusiastic admirers is young Ryan Wrotny, who, at sixteen-years-old, has just started working for the company.

Irreversible Damage to our Planet and our Ecosystem

The bus is fueled by waste cooking oil that is 100% locally sourced, since it is collected from fish and chip shops, restaurants and hotels across the county of Sussex. Fresh cooking oil is also supplied to the participating businesses. The used cooking oil is taken to an Eastbourne factory, where it is processed and made into plant-based biodiesel. Plant-based fuel releases only carbon dioxide from our lifetime, and therefore cuts out the dangerous carbon emissions from mineral-based fuel that has been buried for millions of years, and poses a dangerous threat to our planet. Using biodiesel also reduces the equally unpleasant product, methane, produced by landfill.

A Project that is Pioneering, Prudent and Based on Respect.

The project was the brainchild of Tom Druitt and operations began in 2007. “We want to help stop the irreversible damage being done to our planet and our ecosystem,” says Tom. “One of the ways to do this is to entice people from their cars.” The Big Lemon is a “CIC” which is a “Community Interest Company.” This means the company has satisfied specific criteria requiring that assets and profits should be dedicated to the benefit of the community.

The Big Lemon, which now has a fleet of eleven buses, deservedly received an award from the Brighton and Hove Public Service Awards body for the “Best Sustainability Initiative” in recognition of its commitment to reducing global warming and climate change at a local level.”

The vision of The Big Lemon is “…of a future where our society is no longer reliant on the car… where people care about each other and the world we live in, and endeavour to leave the world a better place for future generations.”
Sources:

Personal input of Katie Ramsden, The Big Lemon
The Big Lemon website