Fry Your Way To Sustainability

The Town of Cochrane is testing out effective ways to put your used cooking oil to good use.  Effective immediately, the Recycling Depot will be accepting used cooking oil from Cochrane residents for recycling. It will be collected in a bin at the Cochrane Recycling Depot, and will then be used to create biodiesel fuel or other products.

The cooking oil being collected is the type used in the home in deep fryers and other hot oil cooking devices.  If not properly treated, this used oil can pose a serious threat to the community, clogging sewer systems, polluting waterways and contaminating landfills.

In this trial project, the oil collected in Cochrane will be picked up by West Coast Reduction Ltd. West Coast offers an environmentally responsible pick up service that prevents thousands of tonnes of used cooking oil from creating environmental problems.  The used cooking oil is filtered, sterilized and tested prior to use. It is then used to create products like feed fat, which is used as an energy ingredient in animal feed rations, and commercially approved biodiesel, a cleaner burning alternative fuel.

West Coast Reduction’s fleet of trucks is one of the largest in Western Canada that operates on its very own biodiesel fuel blends.

The Town of Cochrane program will run for a three-month trial period, and will then be assessed to see if it is feasible for it to continue. Right now, the program is targeted at residential used cooking oil – commercial businesses are not permitted to use this drop-off service.

If you have any questions about the program, you can call the Waste and Recycling Hotline at (403) 851-2277, and select option ‘3’.