PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. – A county program aimed at reducing the amount of pollution created by county vehicles continues to grow. The county’s biodiesel program converts the county’s vehicles to run on biodiesel made from vegetable oil.

County Administrator J. Chappell Hurst gave an update on the program to County Council members Monday night, according to The Pickens Sentinel.

“The (biodiesel) building will be complete by Thanksgiving,” Hurst said, as quoted by the Sentinel. “We’ve ordered all of the equipment, the tanks.”

The county recently partnered with the school district to collect and reuse all of the district’s used oil that is used in food services.

“We’ll be collecting all their oil ... transporting it here,” Hurst said. “It’ll be turned into biodiesel fuel for use by the county.”

The school district is not charging the county for se of the oil. 

Now that the biodiesel program is up and running, county officials are experiment with powering part of the county fleet with other sources, including propane gas.