A Trichy-based eco-startup has been collecting used cooking oil from restaurants for a fee and supplying it to biodiesel producers, stopping the unhealthy oil from being reused by street vendors.
Rather than pouring the oil down the drain, restaurants are now selling it to a startup that collects it at the door, doing its bit for a clean environment.
It has partnered with about 40 hotels in Trichy, and functions by collecting used oil in 20-litre cans and sells it to hotels for Rs. 25 per litre.
The fee charged will go into transporting the used oil to the Biodiesel Association of India-accredited biodiesel manufacturers based in Bangalore and Chennai.
The used oil would be recycled and used to power diesel generators, according to the company's founder. Previously, hotels had been pouring cooking oil down drains, causing them to clog regularly and pollute the environment.
In Trichy, few cases were identified where road sellers bought and illegally reused already used cooking oil from the hotels such as sesame oil and sunflower oil.
The manager of a restaurant in Thillai Nagar declared that they used to dump the oil in drains but now they are encashing around 250 rupees every week by vending it to the startup.
The startup, which employs two teenagers, collects oil from restaurants using an electric scooter. They can collect 2 tons of oil per day and store it in their Thiruvanaikoil warehouse.
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