Benefits of Purifying Used Cooking Oil

There are many economical, environmental and health benefits of purifying used cooking oil. The figures for used cooking oil collected in the USA and Canada alone are mind-boggling, at 4.4 billion pounds!

You can imagine what the figures for the whole of the world must be like.

Oils used in the food industry come from vegetable and plant sources. Luckily, these oils need not go to waste.

Many establishments recycle the oil and repurpose it for other things. In the true spirit of “waste not want not,” recycling is better than disposing of this oil in landfills.

Here are the major benefits of recycling used cooking oil:

1. Extra revenue for the restaurant

Because of the magnitude of the work involved in recycling used cooking oil, this is not something you can do in your capacity. However, you can sell the oil to the companies that purify it, and turn it into different products for other purposes.

The good thing is that you do not even have to take it to them. Collect it in the provided containers so that you can pour all the used oil there. They will then collect it and take it to their purifying facility. They will pay you for your used cooking oil, creating extra revenue for your business.

Used cooking oil prices can go up to 25 cents a pound. Considering that this product would otherwise go to waste, this price is good.

2. Less oil in the drains means less blockage

Train your kitchen staff to put all the used cooking oil in the provided bins so that none of it gets into the sink drains.

Once the bins are full, the recycling company can collect the deep fryer oil and go purify it. The less oil you have to dispose of the better. If you pour it down the kitchen drain, it solidifies once it comes into contact with a cold surface or cold water.

Solidified oils and fats lead to the blockage of the kitchen plumbing system. This can cost you a lot of money in plumbing repairs to make the drainage system right again.

If the municipal authorities find out that you let used cooking oil get to their sewerage system, they can fine you hefty amounts of money.

More than 75000 of sewage overflow cases in different parts in the USA come from the disposal of FOG – fats, oils and greases into the sewerage lines.

With proper collection of used cooking oil for recycling, there will be less callouts to the plumbing companies.

To avoid all these hustles, just engage a recycling company so they can collect your old cooking oil for recycling.

3. Old cooking oil can be recycled to biodiesel

Although this is a complex process, old cooking oil can be purified and be processed into biodiesel. The recycling companies then sell for various purposes. This oil is good for use in lawn mowers, vehicles, farm machinery and other applications.

With more biodiesel coming to the market, there is less reliance on fossil fuels. This is good news for the environment because there will be less emissions into the atmosphere.

Today, if you look in various websites, including the big ones such as AliBaba, you can find biodiesel for sale. As biodiesel becomes more readily available in the market, it will become cheaper and more readily available.

4. You have less waste to take care of

When you collect your deep fryer oil for recycling, it means you have less waste to handle in your business. This also helps you to keep your kitchen clean, free of pests and rodents.

If you do not contract a company to collect the oil, you will have to solidify the oil and then store it in plastic bags to go to the trash. In the end, this could be costlier than selling it to a recycling company.

The only thing you have to train your staff on is the collection of the oil in the bins the recycling company provides.

Depending on how big your business is and how many pounds of used oil it generates daily, you can create a weekly, bi-weekly or even daily schedule for the oil collection.

5. Helps create employment for many people

Used oil recycling is a big industry worth more than $5 billion (by 2020). It employs thousands of people in different ways. 

Whenever you send your deep fryer oil for purifying, you will be supporting the job market in a big way.

Instead of letting all this oil go to the grease trap where it becomes just waste, prevent it from getting to the drain.

Let the companies specializing in the recycling of this oil collect it, and pay you some money while they are at it.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the tens of benefits of purifying used cooking oil. With less oil getting into the landfills and the soil, you help maintain clean water sources. 

You not only help create jobs, pump more money to the economy and keep your premises clean, but you also do Mother Nature a good turn.