More restaurants are contributing their organic waste to be turned into biofuel
Huang Lijie, Straits Times 28 Mar 10;
Don't throw away used cooking oil.
It can help fuel a party mood - as was the case at the Earth Hour concert at the Esplanade Park last night.
Environmentally friendly biodiesel, converted from more than 100 litres of used cooking oil collected from restaurants, kept the generators humming at the event.
While that was one of the more unusual benefits of food-waste recycling, the fact is that more food and beverage (F&B) operators are adopting green habits.
These include turning food scraps into fertiliser and biogas for electricity production.
Shopping mall 313@Somerset, which supplied waste cooking oil for the concert, has worked with F&B tenants since January.
Used cooking oil is collected by its cleaning staff. Clean-energy company Alpha Biofuels converts it to biodiesel at its Tanjong Penjuru plant.
The biofuel is sent to the mall to power a generator. It produces electricity to meet a small portion of the building's needs and also heats water for F&B outlets.
Ms Amy Lim, the mall's general manager, said the recycling system costs 'a significant amount'. But it has also yielded 'a small amount of cost savings' and is 'worthwhile' for its environmental benefits.
Two eateries under the Tung Lok Group, The Paramount Restaurant in East Coast Road and Noble House in Shenton Way, have also joined in to do recycling.
Cooks and cleaners separate organic waste such as meal leftovers from non-organic waste such as napkin wrappers, and dispose of them in different bins.
Environmental waste management firm IUT Global collects the organic waste and breaks it down using bacteria into biogas and compost at its Tuas plant.
The biogas fuels gas engines and generates electricity that is sold to the national grid, while the compost is used by farms as fertiliser and for landscaping. Tung Lok does not share in the proceeds.
Ms Jocelyn Tjioe, Tung Lok's vice-president of purchasing and administration, said the group would extend the recycling scheme to its other restaurants if it takes off well at these two outlets.
Such enthusiasm for food-waste recycling has taken a while to foment. Said IUT Global chief executive and managing director Edwin Khew: 'Restaurants and eateries did not jump at us straight away when we launched in 2007. We had to explain to them how we recycle food, and it was a challenge to get them to separate their waste.'
But growing awareness of the green movement has prompted more F&B outlets to sign on. Since last August, the volume of food waste it collects has jumped by at least 20 per cent to between 120 and 130 tonnes per day on average.
Similarly, the number of clients for Alpha Biofuels has increased from 20 in 2008 to more than 300 F&B partners today.
The biodiesel it produces is used to power everything from taxis to construction equipment.
Pacific Oils and Fats, another company that converts waste cooking oil to biodiesel, is moving to a larger plant this year.
Its operations officer, Mr Desmond Ng, said it will accommodate the conversion of 10 tonnes of used cooking oil, collected from more than 3,000 eateries on average daily, into biodiesel.
