What Is Cooking Oil Recycling?

Cooking oil is used for a wide variety of dishes, from preparing fried food to sautéing vegetables, and beyond the use at restaurants, other commercial entities like supermarkets and foodservices also produce plenty of used cooking oil. With hundreds of thousands of restaurants using cooking oil in their day to day, there’s hundreds of millions of gallons of used cooking oil that is improperly disposed of each year according to Environmental Protections Agency. Many haven’t heard of cooking oil recycling before, but doing so carries incredible environmental benefits.

Familiarizing yourself with the process of recycling used cooking oil is not only informative, but it is also the first step in reducing your carbon footprint and the first step towards building a more sustainable future.

The Process of Cooking Oil Recycling 

Used cooking oil can wreak havoc on your piping system, so above all else, it’s crucial to avoid pouring it down the drain. Instead, recycle it! The first step in cooking oil recycling is to contact a professional service company like Hulsey Environmental Services (a Blue Flow Company) to come collect the used cooking oil, or “yellow grease,” from your facility. They provide a storage bin for you to collect and store the used cooking oil that will then be pumped from your facility by our technicians. Once the yellow grease is collected, it will be transported to our recycling facility where it will undergo the recycling process.

The used cooking oil will be “dewatered” and cleaned out at our extensive and sophisticated recycling facility. Once the used cooking oil is refined and free of any contaminants such as grill bits or other debris, heat is introduced to kill off any bacterium.

Environmental Impact

After the used cooking oil is refined, the most common use is in producing biodiesel fuel. As the demand for sustainable fuel continues to rise, refined cooking oil serves as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional fossil fuels.

Aside from producing biodiesel fuel, used cooking oil recycling also produces a nutritional supplement for animal/livestock feed and a more efficient fertilizer. The fertilizer produced by cooking oil recycling results in less wasted nutrients for the soil and promotes greater crop health. Additionally, recycling used cooking oil and turning it into fertilizer helps reduce pollution more commonly caused by commercial fertilizers. Runoff resulting from excess fertilizer washing into waterways can cause immense damage to the surrounding environment and waste crucial resources.

Call a Professional to Help with Your Restaurant’s Cooking Oil Recycling

In today’s climate, it’s crucial that everyone takes part in reducing their carbon footprint. At Hulsey Environmental Services (a Blue Flow Company), we’re proud to make it our mission to create a sustainable future by protecting our environment for later generations to enjoy the beautiful landscapes we’ve always known.

If you have been disposing of used cooking oil but aren’t sure where it goes once it leaves your restaurant, call us today at 770-746-8520 or visit us online to speak with one of our certified technicians. They will be happy to answer your questions and how your business can take the next step in creating a more sustainable future.