Grease Thieves Are a Sign of Bigger Trouble Ahead
The economics of biodiesel production on a small scale have always been “win-win.” However a loser is being introduced to the mix as a third and fourth parties try to squeeze their own wins out of the arrangement.
Here’s the way it’s worked up until now. An individual approaches a restaurant with a great offer for them. They produce a waste product, oil, that they need to pay someone to haul away and dispose of for them. Our individual offers to take that waste product off their hands at no cost. Further, he would be happy to do it on a regular schedule.
The individual is happy to do this because he is getting the raw material for his biodiesel fuel at no cost. He spent his money upfront building or buying one of the biodiesel kits available and shopping for the related equipment and chemicals he needs to make biodiesel at home. He probably spent $1,000-$5,000 when everything is added up.
Now, though, with his raw fuel source provided free, he can figure every gallon of biodiesel he runs through he processes will cost him about $.70 plus of course the time (usually half hour hands on and 24 hours or so waiting) it took to make. With fossil diesel prices over $4.00 per gallon, he’ll recoup his initial investment in short order.
The Party Crashers Arrive
Who’s are the third and fourth parties? And why are they trying to intrude on this relationship?
The third party is the waste disposal company. They’ve been making money for years “disposing” of the restaturant’s waste oil. Now they have a much bigger problem than a few rebellous small business people saying “no thanks, we don’t need your service anymore.” In recent years,many of them have begun “disposing” of as much waste vegetable oil (wvo) as they can by selling it to small or larger biodiesel processing plants that in turn sell commercial biodiesel to those not interested in making their own.
And the fourth party? He’s an old-fashioned thief. News stories across the country are popping up with tales of midnight robbers found behind restaurants siphoning wvo from disposal units in the alley. They too are sometimes selling the oil to biodiesel processing plants.
Some of them are stealing it to make their own at home from restaurants like Burger King that said “no thanks” to their individual requests for oil. Burger King has a contract with San Jose Tallow, who recently called police when they caught a thief in the act. The man was filling a tank in his truck behind a BK store in Nevada…a 5,000 gallon tank.
Two waste haulers even got in an argument and one accused the other of thievery recently in California. A driver from Waste Oil Recycling was accused of theft while pumping wvo from a tank owned by North State Rendering behind a restaurant. The driver said he had permission from the owner of the restaurant to remove the oil, and that it didn’t matter who’s tank the wvo was sitting in at the time.
“Your trash is your trash until a proper recycling company comes and picks it up,” the head of Waste Oil said.
There’s money to be made in biodiesel production. As fossil diesel prices rise and more people try to get a piece of the production profits, the small do it yourselfer may be the one who gets squeezed out of the winners seat.
An Alternative For Home Brewers Exists
There is an alternative for the home brewer though that promises a stable raw fuel source that he controls himself. There is a higher learning curve since he would be producing his own raw source, but there is a reduction in overall processing time. That source is algae; the fastest growing organism on earth and the one that is nearly one half fat just right for processing.
Biodiesel algae production is an area that is currently wide open for our home brewer to establish himself as a small local or regional supply business. That’s there because big companies haven’t been able to overcome prductionscale issues that have made processing biodiesel algae practical, never mind profitable yet. (They are getting closer quickly).
If you know anyone who might be interested in learning more about the process, what all is needed, and step by step instructions, we recommend this biodiesel algae resource.
If you know anyone who has an arrangement with a restaurant to collect their wvo, we recommend you suggest they might want to carry a letter to that effect with them when they collect, just in case.
