Used cooking oil management is perhaps one of the most important factors that every food servicing establishment should look into in order to prevent troubles from city inspectors. Dumping waste into the ground or pouring them into the drain might seem like an easy but, this irresponsible act may cause disasters and dramatic environmental change that we all will have to suffer. All food servicing establishment are mandated to acquire a hauler to pick up and haul away used cooking oil from the premises.
When it comes to the food business, ‘waste’ simply means FOG, used cooking oils, and solid waste food particles. Learning how to minimize this waste by turning most parts of them into useful products is a great way to reduce the carbon footprint or environmental impact. Businesses all around the the country should master this skill not just to save the environment but also to contribute to the national economy in many ways. Along with saving the environment, having a company that collect the waste oil will keep you out of trouble from the city inspectors.
Commercial kitchens with working with food waste like used cooking oils (collectively known as UCO) in abundant amounts every single day. Authorities and organization that police the disposal of oil have been working hard to make businesses aware of environmental pollution and are keeping them aware that there are licensed used cooking oil haulers that will take away the unwanted waste. Majority of cooking oil collection companies will take it away for free and in some cases they will even give you incentives if your establishment produces an abundant amount of waste oil.
Are you one of them? Do you wonder what products can be used cooking oils recycled into? Here’s a list of five ‘everyday’ useful products that we can make out of waste/used cooking oils.
- Biofuel: At the top of the list, I’d like put biofuel. We all know somewhat about biofuels/biodiesels. These are transportation fuels such as ethanol and biomass-based diesel fuel that are made from biomass materials such as used cooking oils. Unlike fossil fuels such as petroleum, biofuels are renewable energy. Bio diesels are nontoxic and biodegradable, and without a doubt can be the perfect replacement of petroleum-based oils in our car or any type of transportation.
- Cleanser or other type of cleaning products: It is a fact if used cooking oils are released into nature irresponsibly, it can most certainly pollute water treatment systems and the environment. The oil waste can also harm both human beings and animals. But chemists have found a brilliant and very useful way to stop this by turning this huge amount of waste oil into cleaning products such as soap and different type of cleansers. In this way, used cooking oils can get used widely in every household as daily used products.
- Lubricant: One of the main principles of oils is that they prevent foods from sticking to your pan. The same principle makes UCO ideal lubricants. They can be used both as household lubricants and key lock lubricants. These very effective lubricants can be used in almost every sticky situation in a household from squawking hinges to key locks. A layer of used cooking oil on furniture can prevent rusts and keep them shiny all the time.
- Animal Feed: Another very useful product that used cooking oils can be turned into is animal feeds. UCO can be used as animal feeds in different ways. A bit of used oil on dog food can make it more delicious for the animal, and this also make their coats shiny. Used cooking oils also can be used to flavor foods of other animals such as birds and cats too.
Many commercial kitchens are still ignorant and irresponsible with their UCO. This needs to be stopped to ensure a greener tomorrow. If you’re a restaurant owner in California, call The Grease Company today to learn more about used cooking oils and how you can earn some extra money by handing them over to a licensed IKG hauler.