With the increasing call for a greener earth, more people are conscious about waste disposal. Unfortunately, most people do not know how to dispose of used cooking oil. Instead of finding ways to recycle the oil, many people pour it down the drain. Restaurants especially have a lot of used cooking oil and should consider recycling it. Some of the benefits of recycling used cooking oil are:
- Lowers Clean-up Costs
Most eateries, households, hospitals, and schools dispose of used cooking oil via the kitchen drain. This leads to the clogging of kitchen drains and sewer lines. The reasoning behind this method is that since water goes down the same drains, then it is also okay to do the same with oil. The properties of oil and water are different. When the cooking oil cools down, it solidifies into nuggets that clog the drainage.
When your drainage clogs, you have no option but to call for a plumber whose bill is not cheap. At the same time, the clogged sewer line will cause sewage to spill over on the streets, causing a bad smell and disease risk. You can avoid the expense by recycling the used cooking oil.
- Renewable Energy
According to research, the U.S has a yearly used cooking oil production of 2.5 billion gallons. This massive oil production causes a major disposal problem. Most restaurant owners have encouraged the disposal of this oil via the drainage. Several companies now deal with used cooking oil collection and innovative recycling to produce bio-diesel. This bio-diesel has the capacity to power vehicles and machines with diesel engines, and a reduction in pollution.
- Job Creation
Bio-diesel production is still not very advanced and most people are yet to embrace the concept. As much as electric engines are becoming popular, other machines still need fuel to run the machines. If the recycling of used cooking oil went large scale, there would be massive job creation in many different fields such as engineering, sales, Information technology, and many others.
Finding creative ways to reuse oil also creates jobs. Recycling the cooking oil to make soap is a creative money making idea. The internet has tutorials on how to make soap from used cooking oil. Making bio-diesel is another job creation method. You can check on the internet or buy books on how to go about it. With all the million gallons of used cooking oil churned out every day, oil shortage will definitely not be an issue. All you need to do is talk to restaurant owners and create awareness about used cooking oil recycling. If they know they have someone to take the waste oil from their hands, they will gladly cooperate.
- Environment Protection
In recent years, the earth’s temperature has risen and keeps rising every year, caused by green gas emission. This is a potentially dangerous situation. Awareness is rising in environmental protection. The transport system in recent times has grown in leaps and bounds. Some countries are very strict concerning greenhouse gas emissions while others have not taken the phenomenon seriously. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane have significantly risen.
The ozone layer protects us from the sun’s harmful UV rays. It is in great danger of destruction from the greenhouse gases. The ozone layer’s job is to absorb the sun’s heat. Its destruction means much of the heat is transferred to earth instead, raising the temperature.
Bio-diesel is a very clean type of fuel and does not emit harmful gases. If the use of bio-diesel became global, there would be less greenhouse gas emissions.
The world relies heavily on fossil fuel. Research has however shown that the earth’s fossil fuel reserves are on the decline. In ten years to come, fossil fuel will no longer be an option. The world has no choice but to find alternative methods of powering its machines.
Disposal of used cooking oil is a huge problem globally. More people should consider recycling the used cooking oil. It would save more money in cleaning up, creation of renewable energy and jobs, and protect the environment.
