When fans of bio-diesel first claimed they were running their [former] oil burners on "free" fuel– restaurants' abandoned cooking oil and grease– we predicted the fat bubble would burst. And so it has. The New York Times reports that "yellow grease" has risen from 7.6 cents per pound (2000) to 33 cents a pound, or almost $2.50 a gallon. And so we delve into the murky– or is that cloudy?– world of grease theft. The Old Gray Lady weaves a strange tale of late night Burger King raids, private dicks working for grease collection and rendering companies, shady environmentalists, and (as always) befuddled cops. Oh, and a lawyer who specializes in defending the "grease rustlers." "Once you put something in the trash, it’s abandoned property,” said Jon A. Jaworski, a lawyer in Houston who represents accused grease thieves. “A lot of times, it’s not theft.” And a lot of times it is. The unsolved 2,500-gallon Burger King heist chronicled at the outset was worth more than $6,000 on the black (yellow) market. There's only two elements missing from this tale of low life and high fat: the drivers who buy the stuff that "fell off the back of a dumpster" and government intervention. How long before the liquid gold is regulated and taxed? Take our word for it: not long at all.
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A holy place is never empty ;)
I say waste engine oil will be next. A bit harder to process, and full of toxic metals, but would work great for furnaces and big diesels.
It’s only a matter of time before we’ll start getting water&sewer credit from the utility company for using the lavatory :)
Wow, I may have to stop giving my used motor oil away for free. Used motor oil fueled space heaters are readily available.
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/aw/wm/publications/hazard/wa1003-06.pdf
Damned hippies!
Maybe some fast food junkies are just upset that for example McDonalds is switching to trans-fat-free oil and want more of that tasty grease on their fries. LOL
Wow, sounds like there are enough operators like Chuck’s to ruin the game.
Sorry Chuck, you should have kept it all a secret!
:)
“My retirement grease! No! You thievin’ grease bandits!”
As always, the Simpsons’ writers called it.
I guess so landcrusher!
It doesn’t surprise me at all. In my area an industrial producer has gotten smart and is paying eateries for grease, working the local restaurant trade shows, sending out sales people, etc. They have locked up just about every source in the region now.
It used to be my biggest problem was educating the fry cooks not to treat the grease like garbage (throwing crap in it, leaving the barrels open to rain, etc.) and keeping sources through the constant ownership and staff turnover that defines the food service industry. Now my biggest problem is hanging onto sources period.
Ideally I’d like to find a restaurant owner who drives a Diesel vehicle and I’d gladly share my output from the BioDiesel reactor with them. “Free” (really about $1.50/gal) fuel for both of us. Win/Win scenarios are best.
If any restaurant owner in the Seattle area is interested, let me know! ;)
–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
If memory serves, people who obtain used restaurant grease and refine it into motor fuel are in theory liable to account for this to the taxing authorities and pay the usual road tax. How many backyard “grease-shiners” actually bother with this is a good question. Another wrinkle is whether this grease actually qualifies for favored tax treatment, or tax credits, because it is a biofuel. In that case, the government would probably turn a blind eye towards people not filing the proper paperwork, because they’re hardly losing any revenue — and may in fact be saving money because they’re not handing out the credits.
If this becomes big enough, and the tax status makes it a potential revenue source, of course the government will get interested. At present, though, there is plenty of room for flex, because with diesel retailing at $4.50-$5.00 per gallon in many places, getting stuck with a $0.50-$0.75 per gallon tax on your used-grease/fuel leaves you with plenty of surplus to play with. (Add $2.00 per gallon acquision and production cost, and you’re still getting half-price fuel).
Rival gangs, fighting it out over restaurant goo traps.
The “Blobs” and the “Drips”, in full, choreographed Kung-Fu moves, battling over the suddenly precious offal.
Call it “Grease – The Inevitable”.
‘Liquid Gold’ is regulated and taxed.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/21/oil.theft.ap/
To manufacture the renewable fuel legally, biodiesel producers must register with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Biodiesel consumers must also pay the government taxes to help with road upkeep.
Bootleggers are cheating the restaurants who now have a second source of income and the government. But I guess if Hillary makes good on her promise to suspend fuel taxes, it won’t matter if the government gets theirs.
Sounds like the plot for another Mad Max movie.
Mel Gibson can drive an armored grease collection truck and fight off the marauding hippies.
Score one for America, the fast food nation. But I think grease thieves would starve in Britain. Based on my brief experience, their fish and chips is cooked in oil that hasn’t been refreshed since Queen Victoria died.
The only thing that surprised me about the NYT article is reading restaurateurs used to give the stuff away that and San Francisco collected grease as a public service. A long time ago I first noticed “property of xyz” labels protecting waste grease. Maybe we’re more “waste not, want not” conscious in flyover country.
So, the lesson learned is, “Save the world, eat more fries.”
I have a year’s worth of oil changes in used motor oil in bottles outside my house. I keep meaning to take them to a recycler, but never get around to it. Maybe if I put them in a more visible location, someone will take them off my hands!
Remember how the character Tyler Durden in “Fight Club” made a living? Now instead of soap, he could sell his product as biofuel.
For those who haven’t read the book/seen the film, he steals bags of liposuction bio-waste from plastic surgery clinics and then renders it into designer soap that he sells to high-end stores.