Background Current research indicates that the amount of waste vegetable oil produced in Spain amounts to approximately 14, 000 tonnes per year in the Castilla and León regions, 34 tonnes per day in the city of Valencia and 1, 000 tonnes per month in the Madrid region. No national data exists, although estimates indicate a national average amount of at least 80, 000 tonnes per year. This project will apply technologies which have tested successfully in EU countries, including Spain, but which lack a sound global approach in the overall business cycle. It is also important to note that not much research on waste vegetable oil recycling is conducted in Spain in comparison with other EU countries The real use of the biodiesel produced with recycled vegetable oil in urban buses may provide useful information. In fact, VEGOIL will bring alternative solutions to our mobility systems by decreasing pollution levels and by tackling waste management problems. Objectives The main objective of VEGOIL is to develop and test a comprehensive methodology to set up greenfield plants for used vegetable oil treatment. The project will provide future investors with a methodology that will include all aspects of the waste oil recycling process, such as: - guidelines to arrange institutional and commercial cooperation frameworks; - waste oil collection planning; - production of quality biodiesel in a trans-esterification pilot plan; - testing the use of the biodiesel in engines both in the laboratory and “on the road”; - waste oil final usage and management. The project also envisages an ambitious European-wide dissemination plan carried out by the European Union Road Federation (ERF) This project will contribute to the enhancement of the debate on energy that is being generated by the European Commission with the publication of the Green Paper "Towards a European Strategy for the security of energy supply" (November 2000), with the published Communication "A Sustainable Europe for a Better World: A European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development" (May 2001), and with the results of the European Climate Change Programme (Final report, June 2001).