IT'S said where there's muck there's brass, and now one East Lancashire company is proof with a scheme to turn used chip fat into fuel for cars.

Hapton-based Eco Bio-Diesel Ltd started producing its environmentally-friendly product earlier this month.

The company, the brainchild of two local businessmen, is just one of a handful in the whole of the North West that sell the product, which involves collecting waste oil from sources like restaurants and food factories, treating it and adding chemicals until it can be put directly into the petrol tank of a diesel car.

Eddie Wisla, 48, director, said: "You get better miles per gallon and better performance. You get a quiet engine as well. It has got everything going for it.

"The problem we will have is that we won't be able to keep up with demand. Up to now pretty well everything we are producing will be taken by haulage companies and private individuals.

"For the next six months we will be able to keep up with the demand.

"Everybody thought it was a brilliant idea but wouldn't give us any money because it was new. So we used our own money."

Officially the company was formed in 2005, but it has taken almost a year to get the necessary licences and permission to operate. Much of March and April of this year were taken up with preparing the industrial unit they use, Now they can produce thousands of litres of the fuel, which is fully biodegradable unlike normal diesel which can cause massive pollution problems if spilled.

The fuel is then sold in large containers or jerry cans, or put directly into cars from a petrol pump.

The two founders were inspired after seeing a lorry turn up to a fast food restaurant and take oil away, which they discovered would then be sold on to the Continent as fuel.

Co-founder and director David Barker, 32, said: "It's for my kids and their kids, and their kids as well."

Eddie said: "It's a product that would normally go to waste that is recycled into something which works."

Graham Meeks, of the Renewable Energy Association, said: "The wonderful thing about biofuels is that it gives people, in their everyday lives, an opportunity to choose a renewable, low carbon alternative to fossil fuels."