A group from Montana is turning waste into biodiesel. This story from KBZK-TV in Bozeman says Full Circle Biofuels in that city is making the used cooking grease from restaurants into the green fuel.
“Restaurants will have this and they will dump their used fryer oil into here. And then we’ll come and pump it out of this little hole on top whenever they’re full,” Full Circle Biofuels director Jesse Therien said.
Therien turns that waste into something people can use: biodiesel. It’s an alternative to petroleum-based diesel, with some added benefits like reduced emissions.
“It’s biodegradable, it’s nontoxic, it’s renewable and ours in particular is made from recycled materials,” Therein said.
Therien collects used fryer oil from more than 60 restaurants in Bozeman and Belgrade. “Right now we’re bringing in about 4,000 gallons a month but that is likely to double in the next little while. We have all the Walmarts in the state and then Cody, Wyoming as well,” he said.
The company says a school district and the city there have approached it to make biodiesel to go into buses and snow plows.