London’s red buses have just turned a little greener.
As of last week, London buses are now powered by a special biofuel mix designed by Bio-Bean, a British start-up in partnership with Shell. The fuel is much greener than the previous stuff and is made up of 80% ordinary diesel and 20% oil from old coffee grounds.
So that means our famous red buses now run on coffee, just like us.
The coffee grounds come from cafés and restaurants around the city, including big name brands like Costa and Caffe Nero. They are then taken to a factory in Cambridgeshire, so the oil can be extracted and mixed with diesel. It’s a simple way for coffee shops to ditch their waste for free, and for London to reduce its shocking CO2 levels. Win-win.
Bio-Bean reckon that these new coffee-fuelled buses will cause carbon emissions to drop by about 15%. So, much like many Londoners, buses are better with a bit of coffee inside them. Amirite?
In other news, Sadiq Khan has a gorgeous new puppy and we’re in love.
Photo by Mariana Martin