Used cooking oil no longer going down Bogor's drains

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

In a unique move, the Bogor Heritage Foundation has started producing biodiesel from used cooking oil to fuel public buses and garbage trucks.

While the program is still in the development stages, producing only 2,000 liters of biodiesel per month, it has received a warm welcome from the Bogor administration and other parties in the city.

"We are fortunate to have a good relationship with Hotel Salak Bogor, which discards a lot of used cooking oil every day. One day we came with the idea to produce biodiesel from it," said Hasan Hambali, a researcher from the foundation who helped develop the program.

All of the foundation's cars also use the biodiesel products it produces, he said.

Biodiesel is an alternative form of energy that is both environmentally friendly and lead-free, meaning it cuts down on the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

In developing the biodiesel program, the foundation has received continued support from the administration.

The administration warns residents about the risks of using cooking oil more than twice and collects used cooking oil to pass on to the foundation.

Hasan said the idea to recycle used cooking oil came from Japan.

"I read on the internet that every public transportation vehicle in the country uses cooking-oil-based fuel," he said.

The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) in Japan invited both the Bogor Heritage Foundation and the city administration to visit Kyoto last month to further discuss the program.

In Kyoto, biodiesel processing plants have had the ability to produce five tons of fuel every day since 1998. The Kyoto administration collects used cooking oil from homes, restaurants and hotels, with private companies turning it into biodiesel. The product is sold for 120 yen per liter.

Hasan said one of the difficulties the industry faced was that residents were still unaware reusing cooking oil several times had the potential to cause cancer.

Separately, Rizal Utami, the head of a cooperative at the Suryakencana traditional market, said he had campaigned about the dangers of using cooking oil more than two times to support the biodiesel program.

"Most people selling fried snacks use the same batch of cooking oil more than 10 times. Sometimes they add new oil to used cooking oil that has turned black," he said.

He said he had tried to educate fried snack sellers and restaurant owners at the Suryakencana, Padasuka and Sukasari traditional markets about the dangers associated with reusing oil.

The cooperative distributes free jerrycans once every three days to sellers and restaurant owners at the markets so they can donate used cooking oil to the foundation.

A food seller at the Suryakencana market, Siti Nurkoyah, said after the campaign started she refused to use cooking oil more than once.

"The campaign made me realize that reusing cooking oil is not good for the health of my customers," she said.

The head of the Bogor-owned Transportation Services Company, Hari Harsono, said he was pleased the biodiesel product was being used by Trans Pakuan buses.

The company is currently operating 10 Trans Pakuan buses.

As the company is planing to operate another 20 buses in the future, Hari said he hoped the administration would build a fuel station for the distribution of the biodiesel product.

"We hope the administration will build a large biodiesel distribution station. Otherwise it will be too crowded for our buses and the administration's cars," he said.