Your used fry grease or your life

Posted by JMG (Guest Contributor) at 10:08 PM on 06 Apr 2008

Read more about: biofuels | energy

And so it's come to this -- Mad Max is after used fry grease.

For story: Your used fry grease or your life
7 Comments | Post a Comment

Holy ...

It's like J.H. Kunstler meets The Joker!

David Richardson

grist.org

by David Roberts at 10:11 PM on 06 Apr 2008

Thanks for the story!

US$ 1.35 per gallon for used cooking oil equates to about US$ 400 per metric tonne. The price of tallow (animal fat) is about twice that, and the latest international price for a metric tonne of canola oil is trading at more than US$ 1400.

These are only my personal opinions.

by Ron Steenblik at 11:32 PM on 06 Apr 2008

Homer...

....Simpson almost got busted for this stealing Groundskeeper Willie's retirement grease at the elementary school. (The guy in the photo kind of looks like him.)

"My retirement grease!"

by Russ at 12:33 AM on 07 Apr 2008

Too bad The Wire ended

I could have seen a plot line with Bubbles & Co. going after fry grease for heroin money.

Two other interesting stories recently about commodity price booms driving odd thefts:

The Wall St. Journal had an article last week about the growing trend of catalytic converters being sawzalled off cars for the platinum and rhodium, which have both also soared in value due to spiking commodity prices. I'd link to it, but WSJ doesn't share for free... but if you google "catalytic converter theft" you find all sorts of interesting links, like this. Perhaps someone can speculate on the impacts of grease theft on biodiesel prices and the resulting demand for spark-ignition catalytic converters.
The New Yorker reports that it's now illegal to melt down pennies for scrap, in spite of the fact that there is 1.7 cents of zinc and copper value in a 1 cent penny. (Fun corporate conspiracy angle: efforts to abandon the penny and save the treasury 0.7 cents a slug have to date been effectively opposed by Americans for Common Cents, a trade lobby underwritten by the zinc industry. And various real-world incarnations of Bubbles, one presumes.)

by Sean Casten at 5:38 AM on 07 Apr 2008

Diesel at 4 bucks per gallon

"Police suspect the Illinois man, who worked for Restaurant Oils of America in Las Vegas, intended to recycle the oil at an Atascadero refinery for $1.35 a gallon. A full tank would have been worth $6,750."

The black market prospects of biogreasel (as opposed to biodiesel) are amazing. A 2500 mile trip for a trucker costs him 1000 dollars in fuel.

Barely enough cash to keep his truck payments, insurance, and maintenance current is left over. Even if he drives twice the legal limit. Barreling down the freeway half asleep.

If he managed to get fuel from recycled grease? He might even be able to afford to keep working. 90% of truckers are independents, imagine the desperate situation their families are facing.

What a mess bushco gas guzzling hath wrought.

The next time you see a semi coming the other way on the highway, towards your car, think about how sleepy/speedy that driver has to be to (almost) make a living. And how he probably voted for duuhbya ...twice. Yow.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 5:47 AM on 07 Apr 2008

Maine

There's been a string of veggie oil heists in Southern Maine recently, too...

Erik

The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

by Erik Hoffner at 7:36 AM on 07 Apr 2008

Posted this comment in the wrong place first time

aargh... save me webmaster ...."Nothing slipperier than a greased Irishman."

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 9:41 AM on 07 Apr 2008

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