Spent Grease

The “collection of spent grease for the local production of biofuel” was one of the originalZero Waste Zones  (ZWZ)  Criteria at the February 2009 program launch. Spent grease is defined as the fryer oil no longer considered useful in kitchen operations. In the industry, spent grease is often referred to as yellow grease.

In the summer of 2010, the Energy Tax Credit renewal was delayed resulting in the closure of several Atlanta-based bio-fuel production facilities. Thus, GREASE – GreaseRecycling & Energy Alternative Solutions for the Environment – was formed to address the viability of the ZWZ spent grease criteria. Ei Strategic Ally Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) worked closely with Ei on assessing the ZWZ Criteria and highest good destination for spent grease.

For an overview of GREASE 2010 | 2011 activities, visit the ZWA Blog post, GREASE: Activating the Zero Waste Evolution. When the National Restaurant Association purchased the ZWZ in 2012, any revisions to the spent-grease-program criteria landed in their court. Complete with addressing spent grease destination, the GREASE task force went into a holding pattern.