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What Can You Do With Your Used Restaurant Oil?

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If you own or manage a fast food restaurant, disposing of your used cooking grease and cleaning the grease traps may be the bane of your existence. However, there are a few recycling options that could help make this process simpler while allowing this oil to be reused over and over again in other applications. Read on to learn more about some changes you can make to the grease disposal process. 

What are the benefits of recycling used cooking oil?

As fuel demand continues to grow, consumers and scientists alike are looking to alternative sources of fuel to power vehicles, homes, and commercial buildings. Manufacturing biodiesel with oil—on a micro or macro level—and using this fuel to power diesel engines and heat pumps can significantly reduce petroleum demands while saving consumers money.

By recycling your restaurant's cooking oil rather than throwing it away or having it picked up by a waste-processing company, you can help provide an inexpensive, renewable source of fuel and avoid adding to landfill or waterway waste. In some cases, you may even be able to sell your oil to an individual who wants to distill biodiesel for private use. In other situations, you may give the oil away in exchange for a thorough cleaning of your grills and grease traps. 

Who may be interested in your used oil?

The ideal market segment for your used oil largely depends upon the amount you produce on a regular basis. To keep costs low and help maintain a trademark taste for your fried and grilled food, you may strain and reuse your oil for a few weeks before performing an oil change. In this case, you'll likely want to sell or give your waste oil to an individual consumer who has a biodiesel still. This person will take your oil and run it through a filtering process that will produce relatively pure biodiesel. The final product can be used in place of diesel fuel for vehicles or in place of heating oil for residences. Some space heaters are also designed to consume biodiesel fuel. 

If your restaurant produces a more substantial amount of waste oil, you may be able to parlay this regular outflow of oil into a contract with a local recycling company or corporation whose facilities run on biodiesel, such as Ace Grease Service. Often, these companies will recycle your fuel at no cost to you because they can later sell this oil to other consumers or reduce current utility bills. 


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