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Restaurants' Used Grease Draws Thieves

Once scorned, it's 'become gold'; can be turned into biodiesel

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted May 30, 2008 7:40 AM CDT
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(Newser) – For decades restaurants have thrown away their used cooking grease without a second thought; now, they’re trying to protect it from thieves. Almost anyone can convert the yellow grease into cheap biodiesel using kits sold on the internet, and restaurant oil bins have become go-to destinations for everyone from environmentalists to thieves who siphon tanks in the dead of the night.

The grease is now traded on the commodities market, fetching almost $2.50 a gallon; some restaurants are selling it for extra revenue. “Fryer grease has become gold,” said one restaurateur. “And just over a year ago, I had to pay someone to take it away.” But grease thieves say they’re doing nothing wrong; many restaurants store the grease out by the trash, where it’s fair game.

Wesley Caddell, business developer for Blue Sky Bio-Fuels, looks at drums of cooking oils at his plant in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 19, 2008.
Wesley Caddell, business developer for Blue Sky Bio-Fuels, looks at drums of cooking oils at his plant in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 19, 2008.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Ben Shaw, of Yorkshire England, right, assisting fellow driver Emily Horgan of Washington, in filling up the tank of her 1983 Mercedes Benz with cooking grease from the kitchen of the Hard Rock Cafe.
Ben Shaw, of Yorkshire England, right, assisting fellow driver Emily Horgan of Washington, in filling up the tank of her 1983 Mercedes Benz with cooking grease from the kitchen of the Hard Rock Cafe.   (AP Photo/Hardrock Cafe, Adele Starr)
Wesley Caddell, business developer for Blue Sky Bio-Fuels, shows off a drum with cooking oils inside at his plant in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 19, 2008.
Wesley Caddell, business developer for Blue Sky Bio-Fuels, shows off a drum with cooking oils inside at his plant in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 19, 2008.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
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