Tucson: Biodiesel Plant Prepared

Turning cooking oil into something ‘green’

Local firm to recycle restaurants’ grease into biodiesel fuel


By Ian Friedman

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A local construction company is preparing to open a new 3 million­gallon biodiesel plant in hopes of turning Tucson’s used cooking oil into a valuable commodity for the community.

Stacey Sires, vice president of En­vironmental Development Group, said Tucson restaurants generate be­tween 40,000 and 50,000 gallons of used cooking oil per month, and the majority of it is shipped out of the area to be recycled.

Sires said her company hopes to persuade more local restaurants to make their grease benefit the area through a program called Enjoy Din­ing Green.

Twenty businesses already have signed on to become part of the pro­gram, which recognizes each mem­ber with a large window decal, a cer­tificate and a new grease receptacle for the restaurant, she said.

“What we are trying to do is to ac­tually use cooking oil for a process that is renewable,” Sires said. “Not just taking it and just sending it out of the country or sending it out of town — we are trying to build the Tucson community.”

Large-scale local biodiesel pro­duction could have a positive effect on the overall cost of biodiesel fuel in the region, said Colleen Crownin­shield, manager of the clean-cities program at the Pima Association of Governments.

“The biggest expense with alter­native fuels is railing these fuels in from outside of Arizona,” Crownin­shield said. “If we can produce themright here in our own cities and use them here, we would cut down on a huge transportation cost.”

Mari Kaneta, who owns Yama­to Japanese Restaurant, 857 E. Grant Road, with her husband, said that before they joined the Enjoy Dining Green partnership, the restaurant had been sending its used cooking oil to be disposed of off-site.

She said it is nice to now be actively helping the environ­ment, and she believes cus­tomers like knowing when busi­nesses are being environmen­tally conscious.

“ ‘Green’ is definitely a busi­ness selling point right now,” Crowninshield said. “I don’t think you have to be a certain type of person anymore to use a busi­ness because of its green aspect. Everybody is starting to look at that as a real selling point.”

Jeff Sires, Environmental De­velopment Group president, said the goal of the plant is to produce biodiesel to be used by large fleets of trucks, and possibly even mili­tary jets. The facility at 8939 S. Eisenhower Road will have a card-lock system in place for commercial customers, he said. Its grand opening is scheduled for March 13.

Environmental Development Group has operations in Arizona, California and New Mexico. It re­cently moved its headquarters from Silver City, N.M., to Tucson. Crowninshield said she hopes local businesses will take full ad­vantage of the new plant because it’s something she believes is im­portant to consumers.

“The general public has defi­nitely started to veer toward those companies who are using biodiesel,” she said. “It is a bene­fit to the whole community, and people are starting to see that benefit.”