WVO poachers, time to fight back

[Adam]

ERM Biosource, a Port Coquitlam based company, has been sending letters to local Island restaurants asking to purchase their used oil for $0.05 to $0.07 a litre.

I guess it is time for us local WVO users/collectors to get a bit more organized so that we can lock down our supply and fend of this mainland invasion. To this end I've purchased the veggiefuel.ca domain (nothing there yet) and am seeking assistance in developing and admining the site. My vision is that we would have local chapters (Victoria, Nanaimo, Courtney, etc.) that could offer participating restaurants online acknowledgement in return for their WVO donations as well as coordinate pick ups, identify WVO new sources and have a reference for user/supplier FAQs.

Let me know if you are interested in collaboration.

-Adam

[BCDelica]

Great idea! Also Adam, what about the possibilities advertising fuel sources as fantastic PR for a supplying restaurant? Say a rear window sticker, "Powered by Joe's Cafe", "This van fueled by the Dingy Dock restaurant, not dino-diesel".

Any other ideas to encourage a business to recycle there waste with in the community they do business.

Kev

[The Pinkfingers]

Awesome idea. When our Delica arrives we eventually want to switch to veggie oil. What a great resource the site will be. Good on you for birthing and following a vision like this.

[konadog]

Good idea! I'm not on wvo just yet, but would still like to participate in your effort. A Plant-drive kit install is looming in Hazel's near future too. Well done Adam, thanks.

[GREENME@U]

Hey there all! i like the idea for sure! and it got me to a thinkin......i got a big home furnace tank for free the other day and mounted it in the back yard.....it was time to get some oil! My Dad is a butcher and has sold meat to restaurant's for over 20 years so from past posts i herd that it takes 2 restaurant's to feed my fan......well two phone calls later i got all the oil i need and im sure i can get a hell of alot more!but...where to store it in mass amount....im thinking of a line up of oil tanks lol O and just wondering do think it would be worth buying normal oil drums vers free furnace tanks? cheers!

Marty

[BCDelica]

Hey there all! i like the idea for sure! and it got me to a thinkin......i got a big home furnace tank for free the other day and mounted it in the back yard.....it was time to get some oil! My Dad is a butcher and has sold meat to restaurant's for over 20 years so from past posts i herd that it takes 2 restaurant's to feed my fan......well two phone calls later i got all the oil i need and im sure i can get a hell of alot more!but...where to store it in mass amount....im thinking of a line up of oil tanks lol O and just wondering do think it would be worth buying normal oil drums vers free furnace tanks? cheers!

Marty

Hello Marty. A house sized oil tank is 250 gallons and I would suggest not storing more for only one vehicles use. Canola is a very biological fluid, with high calorie content plus yummy taste, that'll be food for the tiniest bacteria to the biggest bear in the neighborhood. Adding biocide is a good idea, though it's nasty stuff, cause had a skim of some kind if bloom on filtered veggie one august. Since only process dewatered, treated and filtered WVO to have on hand. Also restaurants can produce vastly different amounts of waste oil, in town here it's ranged from 30 liters to 200 liters. Would seem many union restaurants change oil on a definite schedule, and if they'll work with you to keep out the griddle grease that's excellent.

Cheers

[GREENME@U]

thks BCDelica i had no idea that stuff grows in cooking oil and i know i dont what to add stuff that harmfull to the eco system... and the grittle grease...wont this go to the bottom?like water or does it mix in with the wvo? and can u filter it out? thks for your help bcdelica!
cheers
marty

[konadog]

i had no idea that stuff grows in cooking oil

Yep, stuff grows in diesel oil too, and old motor oil, and just about everything else organic, even real nasty toxic stuff. Life is tough and amazingly opportunistic and will go on long after humanity has been relegated to the fossil record.

[BCDelica]

thks BCDelica i had no idea that stuff grows in cooking oil and i know i dont what to add stuff that harmfull to the eco system... and the grittle grease...wont this go to the bottom?like water or does it mix in with the wvo? and can u filter it out? thks for your help bcdelica!
cheers
marty

Grill grease can be scrapped from the trap and added to drain WVO to cool it, and it's convenient for the restaurant. It does settle but results in less good oil collected for processing, and the grease is loaded with the scrapings on the grill. You can filter fats, but it's a pain cause they block filter media almost completely.

Always find it amazing how bacteria can flourish in the most hostile places; thousands of feet down, in porosis rock filled with oil under wicked high pressures and temperatures bacteria can bloom.

Cheers

[delicat]

Dont mean to hijack this thread but since we're talking about 250 gallons tank and I'm planing on using one for my WVO, I'll bump in anyway!

My initial thoughts were to filter and de-water my oil and store the finish product in my 250 gallons tank. I'm expecting to filter the equivalent of 120 litres a week and don't expect to use it all hence my storage would grow accordingly until I get a 2nd Delica for my wife... or friends come and help themself. Doing so, is there a safe time frame that I'd be ok to store the filtered oil?

The other option would be to use the tank to receive the initial unfiltered oil and again build a reserve to be filtered and de-watered into a 55 gallons drum for weekly use. Would this be a better aproach?

Thanks,
David

[GREENME@U]

lol i dont know what to do with my 250gallon tank,just screen the big stuff out and put the oil in? or dewater and filter then put it in? after hearing about algae blooming in the oil i think i might do dewater&filter after. !!!HELP!!lol thks

Marty

[after oil]

adam, maybe count me in for a powell river chapter. hopefully we're a little too far too many ferries from the mainland for the capitalists to come, but $$ oppurtunities attract anything from the tiniest bactiera to the biggest bear!

[BCDelica]

adam, maybe count me in for a powell river chapter. hopefully we're a little too far too many ferries from the mainland for the capitalists to come, but $$ oppurtunities attract anything from the tiniest bactiera to the biggest bear!

to the rural Powell Riverite! LOL

If your storing almost a thousand liters, in a metal container, just add a tiny amount of biocide David. And sign me up for the south Asian chapter!

[GREENME@U]

lol so i got a phone call today and the restaurant that said i could get oil from(3days ago) said that at the end of the month the wvo guys that supply the bin said that they where going to start taking the oil for free........or pay them so he said he said will call me back at the end of the month.I just got my 250 gallon drum to get a head start before i convert so this is bad news i wonder if the other restaurant is going to phone me now too.....or if this guys pullin my chain to get me to fork some doe over.What do u fellow delicaite's think? i think i still should go for the plant drive kit eh? O am i aloud to say EH? Lol Cheers;

Marty

[Adam]

I wouldn't be above matching the removal company's offer of $0.05/L. It is still a lot cheaper than diesel even after all the install effort and filtering. The biggest edge that small scale WVO collectors have going for us is that we are local. We aren't trucking the oil to an industrial facility out of the community or off the Island. Total cost accounting, we have a smaller carbon footprint and this is the angle I'd like to emphasize on veggiefuel.ca.

I did some more research on ERM Biosource and they have had some media exposure in the last year or so as they try to sign up restaurants for their "Restaurant Green Zone" program which hands out window decals to participating restaurants. Looks like they have 415 restaurants signed up on the mainland, and now they have their sights set on the Island.

Much of what ERM Biosource provides to restaurants we should be able to counter, here has what I've identified so far:

• Payment - very minimal, many smaller restaurants won't see much income from this, but we could counter their offer if that is a stumbling block
  Window Decals - we can make our own that emphasize our local presence
  Oil Collection Barrels - if the restaurant really wants one they can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, but most places I've dealt with have been happy to put the oil back in the original containers
  Online Recognition - veggiefuel.ca

The other edge we have is that we do a lot less processing to the oil, as we aren't making biodiesel. No hazardous chemicals needed and there is no waste product produced, other than chip bits, which go into my compost bin. I don't want to knock WVO biodiesel production too much as I do use locally produced b100 at a 50/50 blend with my diesel in my regular tank, but WVO drivers are technically 'greener'.

BTW, thanks to Mark (this site admin) for kindly donating some server space to get veggiefuel.ca running, now I just have to learn Joomla