Reusing Frying Oils for Bio Fuels: The Pathway to a More Sustainable Kitchen and Environment

While doing research for the project, I came across a website (www.ecolife.com) that helps individuals find more ways to be environmentally conscious in our daily lives. In the recycling section, I found that there are many ways to dispose of cooking oils, as its pathogens are very harmful to the environment, if poured down the sink drain. I had personally never realized that simple cooking oils, for example canola oil, can be collected and converted into energy sources such as bio fuels like biodiesel. There are many companies world-wide that participate in the recycling of cooking oils and a list of these companies can be found on the following site (www.oliomap.com).

After considering this type of recycling program, I wondered whether or not PJ’s Restaurant took advantage of this sustainability initiative program. And to my surprise, after having spent an entire semester working in the PJ’s kitchen completely unaware, they do! Simon Day has a contract with Sanimax (www.sanimax.com), who comes to collect the cooking oil used in the deep fryers on a regular basis. Sanimax is a North American company, and their regional office is located out of Guelph, ON. The Sanimax motto is to “Reclaim, Renew, and Return”, which describes what the company does to help food service locations dealing with the messy disposal of product recycling. Sanimax aims to extend the food supply value chain and thus reuses the collected products to produce items such as bio fuels. Pj’s has been participating in this initiative for the past three years and it definitely contributes to the overall sustainability of the restaurant.  Not only does Simon not have to find a way to dispose of the cooking oils personally, the process does not incur any additional costs and actually provides a profit of approximately $250.00 a year from Sanimax.

All factors considered, this recycling program is an excellent sustainability initiative and more food service outlets should participate!