Centralina Council of Governments

The Centralina Council of Governments is one of the 17 regional North Carolina Councils of Governments established by the North Carolina General Assembly for the purpose of regional planning and administration.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, it serves Iredell, Rowan, Lincoln, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Stanly, Union, and Anson counties.

In 2009 the Centralina Council of Governments received a grant from the Biofuels Center of North Carolina to help develop a Greater Charlotte Region Biofuel Facility. The project is examining how and to what extent Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities and its partners can transform brown grease, currently a waste product, into biodiesel fuel. The project team, including Central Piedmont Community College, UNC Charlotte, and Centralina Council of Governments (through the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition) is assessing the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of using problematic fats, oils and grease (FOG) as biodiesel feedstock.

Brown grease currently removed from restaurant grease traps, for example, often is taken to landfills because it is mixed with wastewater. Grease poured down drains is the leading cause of sanitary sewer overflows in the Utilities’ 4,000-mile wastewater collection system.

External Links:

Centralina Council of Governments
Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition
Central Piedmont Community College
UNC Charlotte
Biofuels Center of North Carolina