Restaurant Chain Recycling Cooking Oil to Biodiesel

Cindy Zimmerman

The HollandEPIC Northwest-based restaurant chain The Holland, Inc. is sending off it’s used cooking oil to be converted into biodiesel. According to a company release, all 39 Burgerville locations throughout the Pacific Northwest will have their used cooking oil picked up by Portland-based MRP Services and taken to a processing plant where the oil is transformed into methyl esters (biodiesel) and glycerin (a byproduct) through a process called transesterification. Besides the Burgerville chain, The Holland also owns Beaches and noodlin’ restaurant chains and they are big on “sustainable practices.” MRP Services sees big potential in biodiesel according to commercial accounts manager Will Craig. “Our pump truck division, which picks up the oil, has become the largest division within MRP Services. With the amazing amount of growth within the biodiesel industry and a company like The Holland using their cooking oil for biodiesel, MRP expects that it won’t be long before the cooking oil collection becomes a division on its own.”

Biodiesel