Local Solutions :
City of Gadsden Joins Partnership with
Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts

An immediate solution to a sticky problem is being provided through a new
partnership between the Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts and the City of
Gadsden, Ala.

The problem is that many communities such as Gadsden struggle with ways
to dispose of used cooking oil. Larger restaurants can contract with a company
to collect and dispose of the used oil, but residents and smaller mom-and-pop operations tend to put it in the garbage or pour it down the drain.

The result can clog sewage systems and fill up landfills with the mess.

The technology now exists to turn that cooking oil into biodiesel, and several Alabama cities are already working on ways to recycle the oil to use as biodiesel in their city and municipal vehicles.

The Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts is helping Gadsden set up residential collection points for home cooking
oil to be easily collected. Similar efforts are under way in other cities.

“The fleet guys are excited about it, but it is the water treatment folks that are the most excited about it because
they see the benefit of not having to dig up clogged sewer lines,” said Mark Hall, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System Renewable Energy Specialist. “It’s solving a real environmental problem for the city and giving local residentsopportunities to participate in the solution.”