Home Kitchen & Laundry Be Responsible About the Lifecycle of the Cooking Oil You Use

Be Responsible About the Lifecycle of the Cooking Oil You Use

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Glenn Hasek

Several years ago, my family purchased an air fryer. We have since used it many times—for anything we would typically fry using cooking oil, and even for baking. It is a “set it and forget it” machine until the food is ready. We have significantly reduced our use of cooking oil and are eating healthier as a result. I know life in a commercial kitchen is not as easy and that is why I wrote this past week how one company is helping hoteliers and restaurateurs manage their cooking oil—from purchase to recycling. There are many companies that provide cooking oil and the management of it, but I chose Restaurant Technologies, Inc. (RT) for the article I posted this past week.

RT is on the cutting edge when it comes to keeping cooking oil out of the landfill and automating the cooking oil handling process—better for employees, better for the environment, and better for your business. In fact, in 2021 RT kept 270 million pounds of cooking oil out of the waste stream.

For those of you who work with a cooking oil recycler, you probably know about its numerous down-stream uses. Once collected and taken by a recycler, the filtered cooking oil, also known as yellow grease, is treated with methanol and a catalyst, producing glycerin as a byproduct. The glycerin is used in many different applications, from cosmetics to toothpaste. Finally, the excess methanol is processed out, leaving pure biofuel behind. Biofuel can be mixed in with conventional diesel to create a more sustainable, eco-friendly fuel. The biofuel has a low carbon content, and it doesn’t produce carbon monoxide.

“Used cooking oil is already playing a part in powering airplanes, shipping goods cross-country, and heating homes, while reducing the environmental impact of all those activities,” RT says.

From Cooking Oil to Bio/Renewable Diesel

A large portion of cooking oil picked up by RT trucks is recycled by Chevron Renewable Energy Group. RT caught my eye last August when it announced it started utilizing biofuels from Chevron Renewable Energy Group in its commercial vehicle fleet. The step is unique because the biofuels come from RT’s own total oil management business. For more than 10 years, RT has provided Chevron Renewable Energy Group with used cooking oil, collected from its more than 36,000 customers including quick-service and full-service restaurant chains, independent restaurants, grocers, hotels, casinos, universities, and hospitals. The used oil is utilized as a feedstock to produce biodiesel and renewable diesel. With RT now utilizing these lower carbon fuels in its own fleet, the two organizations are creating a working circular economy.

Biodiesel and renewable diesel are lower carbon alternatives to traditional petroleum diesel that may help fleet operators reduce the lifecycle carbon intensity of their operations. The fuels are traditionally utilized as a blend, either being blended with one another to produce a 100 percent renewable fuel or blended with petroleum diesel. RT uses a B20 blend, 30 to 50 percent InfiniD (biodiesel), with the remainder petroleum diesel. Chevron Renewable Energy Group is already delivering biofuels to power RT’s fleet located at the Des Moines, Iowa depot, with plans to expand to more depot locations across the nation.

Being responsible with the purchasing, handling, and recycling of your cooking oil is critical. According to EPA, animal fats and vegetable oils are regulated under 40 CFR 112, which has identical requirements for petroleum and non-petroleum oils. Petroleum oils, vegetable oils, and animal fats share common physical properties and produce similar environmental effects. Like petroleum oils, vegetable oils and animal fats and their constituents can:

  • Cause devastating physical effects, such as coating animals and plants with oil and suffocating them by oxygen depletion;
  • Be toxic and form toxic products;
  • Destroy future and existing food supplies, breeding animals, and habitats;
  • Produce rancid odors;
  • Foul shorelines, clog water treatment plants, and catch fire when ignition sources are present; and
  • Form products that linger in the environment for many years.

“Scientific research and experience with actual spills have shown that spills of animal fats and vegetable oils kill or injure wildlife and produce other undesirable effects,” EPA says. “Wildlife that becomes coated with animal fats or vegetable oils could die of hypothermia, dehydration and diarrhea, or starvation. Aquatic life may suffocate because of the depletion of oxygen caused by spilled animal fats and vegetable oils in water. Spills of animal fats and vegetable oils have the same or similar devastating impacts on the aquatic environment as petroleum oils.”

I have walked the floors of numerous foodservice trade shows over the years and what I learned is that there are many companies out there that can help you manage your cooking oil responsibly. Partner with them and don’t even think about pouring cooking oil down the drain or sending it to the landfill.

Your thoughts? I can be reached at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

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