September 29, 2011. Major British independent oil firm Greenergy sees its future as an exploration company, but one that hunts for fuel in piles of stale pork pies and cakes rather than under the ground or from food crops. The refined oil product wholesaler is still investing in the embattled European Union biodiesel sector, aiming to utilize ever more challenging waste products after abandoning, at least for now, the widely criticized use of virgin vegetable oils. The European Union's biofuels industry has struggled to attract funds and expand during the eurozone's economic crisis, hurt not only by a challenging investment climate but also questions about the sector's environmental credentials. Biofuels had been seen playing a central role in helping the EU achieve its target of meeting 10 percent of road transport fuel needs from renewable sources by 2020. Political support has wavered as scientists raised concerns about the environmental impact of diverting food crops to biofuel production. Greenergy's biodiesel plant at Immingham in eastern England was built to use vegetable oils but in the last couple of years the company has built units to pre-treat and post-treat production to allow use of waste such as used cooking oil. The plant now has the capacity to produce nearly 200,000 tonnes of biodiesel from waste products.