Fat Chance was shortlisted from 500 international projects from 86 countries. The selection process included a year of nominations, judging and public voting which saw a staggering 122,000 voters from all over the world. The award was presented to EORC commercial director, Pippo Psaila, and EORC managing director, Nicholas Parnis England, during the BBC & Newsweek World Challenge Award ceremony held last Thursday in London.

The world challenge competition was aimed at finding entrepreneurs whose projects are making a difference to communities in the world. EORC’s entrepreneurial spirit to produce a cleaner fuel from domestic renewable resources such as cooking oil, was also commended by BBC World, Newsweek and Shell.

Mr Psaila and Mr Parnis England, who received the award on behalf of EORC, were delighted with the honour. Commenting on this success Mr Psaila said: “This is a very special moment for us. Placing second in such an important international award is a tremendous acknowledgement of our on-going efforts to ensure a cleaner environment through the promotion of bio-diesel. It is also a wonderful recognition of Malta’s continuous endeavours to create an environmentally friendly society.”

Mr Psaila stated that locally the response for bio-diesel is steadily increasing and it is envisaged that soon Malta will place in the top five in the EU 25 league of the biofuels directive. In fact, biodiesel consumption in the first eight months had already exceeded this year’s target.

Mr Psaila also thanked the Rural Affairs and the Environment Ministry, WasteServ, the media and the general public who gave them their support by voting online. He added that Fat Chance’s participation in the BBC World Challenge has generated numerous international enquiries for possible joint ventures, and the company is currently negotiating its first export order which is expected to materialise in the near future.