McDonald’s in not exactly known for the healthy choices it offers its customers or the eco-friendly impact it has on the environment.  Best known for the golden arches and the Big Mac and grease, McDonald’s is working hard to change its image.

The company is beginning to make its waste cooking oil into biodiesel fuel for powering up its trucking fleet in Europe.  It will take almost an entire year to get the whole fleet converted.

I admire the corporate world for looking to creative ways to help the environment, but I can’t help but wonder if there is more in it for them.  I have a friend that owns a car run on waste cooking oil.  It smells a lot like what’s been cooking.  Now imagine an entire fleet of trucks driving around the region smelling like fries.  It could be almost as bad as the sound of the ice cream truck.

Still, the conversion of the McDonald’s fleet (according to their own figures) will save almost 2,000 tons of carbon.  Since it will also help the company by cutting the cost of shipping (because of the reducing in fuel purchases), I can only dream that it will also reduce the cost of my next run through the drive through.