Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 10:44 pm Post subject: Restaurant Grease Thefts on the Rise
Restaurant Grease Thefts on the Rise
Quote:
The bandit pulled his truck to the back of a Burger King in Northern California one afternoon last month armed with a hose and a tank. After rummaging around assorted restaurant rubbish, he dunked a tube into a smelly storage bin and, the police said, vacuumed out about 300 gallons of grease.
The man was caught before he could slip away. In his truck, the police found 2,500 gallons of used fryer grease, indicating that the Burger King had not been his first fast-food craving of the day.
Outside Seattle, cooking oil rustling has become such a problem that the owners of the Olympia Pizza and Pasta Restaurant in Arlington, Wash., are considering using a surveillance camera to keep watch on its 50-gallon grease barrel. Nick Damianidis, an owner, said the barrel had been hit seven or eight times since last summer by siphoners who strike in the night.
“Fryer grease has become gold,” Mr. Damianidis said. “And just over a year ago, I had to pay someone to take it away.”
Much to the surprise of Mr. Damianidis and many other people, processed fryer oil, which is called yellow grease, is actually not trash. The grease is traded on the booming commodities market. Its value has increased in recent months to historic highs, driven by the even higher prices of gas and ethanol, making it an ever more popular form of biodiesel to fuel cars and trucks.
In 2000, yellow grease was trading for 7.6 cents per pound. On Thursday, its price was about 33 cents a pound, or almost $2.50 a gallon. (That would make the 2,500-gallon haul in the Burger King case worth more than $6,000.)
Joined: Aug 03, 2007 Posts: 3140 Location: Boston Suburbs
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:15 am Post subject: Re: Restaurant Grease Thefts on the Rise
Looks like the meme that everyone could fill their diesel car's tank for free with fryer grease the restaurants don't want is coming to a swift end. Saw this one coming from day one.
Joined: Sep 29, 2004 Posts: 2330 Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 9:39 am Post subject: Re: Restaurant Grease Thefts on the Rise
Just as we predicted for biodiesel. People were talking about how your could run your diesel engine on "free" fryer grease. Now restaurants are thinking of charging for it. And now, people are stealing it. Isn't it amazing how alternatives suddenly become not so cheap once people start using them? _________________ "That's the problem with mercy, kid... It just ain't professional" - Fast Eddie, The Color of Money
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:51 am Post subject: Re: Restaurant Grease Thefts on the Rise
Kingcoal wrote:
Just as we predicted for biodiesel. People were talking about how your could run your diesel engine on "free" fryer grease. Now restaurants are thinking of charging for it. And now, people are stealing it. Isn't it amazing how alternatives suddenly become not so cheap once people start using them?
They can't charge a whole lot. A company selling yellow grease still has a lot of overhead, so they can't offer $2.50/gallon and still make money. Paying $1-2/gallon for fuel is still way cheaper than the alternative. _________________
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