The environmental programme ‘caravan of tiganokinisi’ is making a stop in Larnaca to educate students on the uses of used cooking oil.

Tiganokinsi collects used cooking oil and converts it into biodiesel, in over 500 schools in Cyprus.
It has collected over 900 tonnes of cooking oil since 2011.

“The programme aims to inform and educate students on the recycling of used cooking oil, saving energy, water and composting savings,” an announcement said.

The programme began on February 25 and will continue until March 15 in a total of 22 schools in the Larnaca district.

“The logistics are huge to collect this half-litre of cooking oil from (each of) our houses,” said Xenia Loizidou earlier in February, chair of the AKTI Project and Research Centre, a local NGO involved in environmental education that coordinates the collection of the oil to be sold on as biofuel.

Proceeds are divided among participating schools, depending on how much oil they donated, and children have a say on what green projects receive the money, Loizidou said.

More than 550,000 euros ($572,935) has been provided for projects including photovoltaic panels in schools, water fountains and aromatic gardens.

The project, backed by the Cypriot education ministry, became part of the national curriculum in 2018 and now engages more than 80,000 schoolchildren a year.