Recycling rancid oil
I have been away from home for a couple of months so it was just a couple of weeks ago that I found out that my beloved city of Marikina has started collecting used cooking oil separately from all the garbage. I'm not sure just how often they do this though
and I started wondering what they do with it. Possibly, they are just collecting it to be disposed off properly. Before, many households have a habit of throwing away used oil through canals. As we all know, pouring it down the drain might make the plumbing clogged when the oil solidifies so people tend to throw it outside of their homes directly into the sewage system. But this practice does come with its negative effects. Eventually, sewage water goes to our rivers and streams causing them to be polluted.
I wonder if the Waste Management Office recycles those rancid cooking oils. If they recycle those and turned them into biodiesel, they could use it to fuel the vehicles that the city government owns. Marikina has been known to invest in recycling machineries and has saved the city government a lot of money in the long run. A few months back the city government purchased a composting machine that turns the garbage collected from the market into compost.
If they could afford to buy one, they could certainly afford to invest in research and training of people who could run a biodiesel production plant. In the United States, there are home-brew operations that recycle used cooking oils into biofuel. Since this is a fairly new practice, there are no environmental standards and safety precautions that could standardize the process. There are a lot of fast foods and restaurants in Marikina and I'm sure they would be more than willing to get rid of their used cooking oils so that it could be made into biofuels, and in turn take part in the development of the city. This could certainly benefit everyone in the long run.
The scientific community has sent alarms over the years about the possibility of depleting oil reserves in the near future. It's about time that we look into alternative sources of fuel.
Hmmm.. It was only earlier I became aware of the recycling oil-drive of Marikina, when the garbage truck made rounds earlier to collect used cooking oil. My neighbor told me she saw it in the news yesterday. I am so late in the news. This is a great idea actually.