Understanding the Difference between Greases

First, let’s clarify the distinction between yellow and brown grease. Yellow grease is an animal byproduct resulting from cooking processes. It’s considered “clean” grease because it typically only comes into contact with fresh or frozen food during cooking. Brown grease, on the other hand, is the grease collected in grease and waste traps. This type of grease is considered “contaminated” as it often encounters rotten food and dirty water in commercial drains.

While the yellow type of grease is suitable for a wide variety of industrial uses, the brown kind poses more of a challenge to render into anything useful. While it is possible to recycle brown grease, effective methods are still being worked on, while its yellow equivalent is much more easily processed into a useable material.

The Versatility and Value of Grease

Grease, most often in the form of used cooking oil, is a valuable resource with a wide range of applications:

• Biodiesel production: One of its primary uses is in the production of biodiesel, an eco-friendly alternative to traditional fossil fuels.
• Animal feed: Grease serves as an essential ingredient in animal feed production, contributing to sustainable agriculture.
• Industrial applications: It finds its way into various industrial products such as rubber, soap, clothing, detergent, and cosmetics.

The value of grease extends beyond its diverse applications. There’s a market for grease of the yellow variety, and it’s often purchased from restaurants and commercial kitchens in the form of used cooking oil for recycling. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a report on October 10, 2023 stating the yellow grease price range in the U.S. was from $48 to $59 per central weight (cwt). Additionally, Yahoo Finance News reported on April 17, 2023 the North American FOG market is expected to grow from $9.5 billion in 2022 to $25.6 billion by 2044.

This not only provides financial benefits to restaurant and commercial kitchen owners, but also promotes environmental responsibility.

Responsible Disposal of Grease

Now, let’s consider how to responsibly dispose of used cooking oil, ensuring both your business’s efficiency and environmental stewardship. One of the most efficient and hassle-free methods is to contract a third-party fryer cleaning service that takes the oil for recycling. These professionals will collect your used cooking oil on a regular schedule made for your convenience, often with little to no downtime for your kitchen staff. This approach eliminates the risk of accidents or spills for your employees and reduces pollution from oil discarded in landfills.

Another option is to transport your used cooking oil to recycling centers yourself. This approach offers greater control but requires time, effort, and finding a recycling center within a reasonable distance from your location.

Lastly, you can use traditional oil collection bins. While effective at getting rid of the oil, collecting used cooking oil in bins can present challenges. It can be hazardous for kitchen staff to empty oil from fryers into the bins. Additionally, these bins can attract pests, dim the aesthetics of your establishment, require regular emptying, and when emptied contribute to landfill pollution.

Used cooking oil, and the grease that comes from it, is a valuable resource with numerous applications and a market for recycling. By responsibly managing its disposal, you not only contribute to the sustainability of various industries but also reduce pollution and environmental harm. Consider the options available to you and choose the method that aligns best with your business’s needs and commitment to environmental responsibility. Properly handling oil and grease disposal is not just a business practice; it’s a sustainable choice that benefits your bottom line and the planet.

Consider Partnering with Filta

We’re thrilled to offer you our waste oil removal services. Our franchise offers a range of commercial kitchen services, including fryer cleaning, oil filtration, oil recycling, and more. We help you keep your kitchen clean, avoid health risks and safety hazards, keep staff downtime to a minimum, and reduce your carbon footprint. Request a free demo today and find out what we at Filta can do for you.

The post Yellow Grease: What It Is & How To Recycle It first appeared on Filta.

Filta Franchise Owner Interview

Filta co-owner DJ Kayl was interviewed by ABC-TV affiliate, Denver 7 last month. He shares how Filta helps commercial kitchens decrease carbon footprints by making cooking oil last longer. This happens through microfiltration and recycling into biodiesel. In addition to Coors Field, Filta also services the NBA Champion Denver Nuggets’ Ball Arena. Filta also works in Dick’s Sporting Goods Park where the Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids play. Furthermore, Filta also services Red Rocks Amphitheater, which is considered one of the top concert venues in the nation.

Franchisee Backgrounds

DJ Kayl, Damon Wanco, and Hugh Roberts all have diverse professional backgrounds that prepared them for their current Filta franchise ownership.

DJ spent 10 years with Servpro and another 10 years with US Bank. Damon worked in his family’s landscaping business for more than a dozen years. Prior to landscaping, he spent 15 years in the hotel and casino industry where he managed operations. This prepared him to run day-to-day operations at Filta. Hugh has more than two decades of sales and development experience in the medical device field.

The business partners are looking forward to further expansion across Denver and the Colorado Front Range.

Franchise Information

To learn more about Filta ownership and the available territories, contact Rob Totten at rtotten@filta.com. To learn more about Filta’s services including fryer cleaning, microfiltration and waste oil removal/recycling, please call 866-51-FILTA or visit GoFilta.com for 24-hour live chat.

The post Filta Franchise Owners Hit Home Runs at Denver’s Coors Field and Beyond – ABC Denver 7 News Story first appeared on Filta.

Earlier this year he secured the business at NASA Space Center, a huge personal win. His interest and affinity for NASA is palpable to anyone he speaks with. His parents actually met at NASA when his dad was an engineer on the Apollo Project and his mother was a secretary. Powers was born at a hospital (that he now services!) right near NASA so you might say that space is “in his blood.”

He had been trying to secure the NASA Space Center Houston business for some time but due to security, specialized protocols, and other contractual issues, had not made progress. When Wolfgang Puck took over the NASA kitchens, he sprang into action, leveraging his previous work in other Puck-run kitchens. Meetings began in December 2022 and he secured the business a few months later in May 2023.

Twice weekly now Powers’ team services Space Center Houston’s five fryers. Three 80-pound fryers pump out massive amounts of French fries and chicken tenders for tourists every day that are “out of this world” and two 50-pound fryers are used for catering. Powers and his Filta team microfilter the cooking oil to make it last longer, clean the fryers to keep food fresher and better tasting, and then remove the oil it when its useful life is done, ensuring it is recycled for biodiesel fuel, relieving kitchen staff from this dangerous, messy task and keeping kitchens running faster, greener, safer and cleaner.

He and his team also work in large stadiums and arenas like NRG Stadium where he serviced the Final Four NCAA Basketball Championship this past spring as well as working for more than three solid weeks every year at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, servicing the 100+ gigantic fryers nightly to keep fried food at that massive event churning out without a hitch. He’s so busy during Rodeo season that he adds staff for that event. They also service Minute Maid Park, home of the reigning World Series Champion Houston Astros after very home game as well as Constellation Field, Toyota Center and The Cynthia Wood Mitchell Pavilion. Powers says scheduling multiple large venues with constantly changing schedules is among his biggest ongoing challenges.

Another impressively large logistical feat is how Powers and the other two Filta Houston-area franchise owners, Andrew Seenandan and Tom Schwenke, service more than 50 hospitals throughout the metro area. Some require nightly service to keep grease management running smoothly at many of the most highly respected healthcare facilities in the nation including The UTMB MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas Children’s, Houston Methodist, CHI St. Luke’s, Memorial Hermann and Ben Taub, all hospitals that are based in the world’s largest medical center, The Texas Medical Center with many satellite locations scattered around the region.

Another large feather in Mike Powers’ cap is being the preferred cooking oil partner for the Sysco Foods world headquarters in Houston. Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and more, so the company certainly has a keen eye on quality as well as a focused priority on sustainability. Earning the business of filtering and changing the oil as well as cleaning the fryers for the four 50-pound fryers in the Sysco world headquarters employee cafeteria was no small feat. But an even larger kudo for Powers is servicing the six 50-pound fryers in Sysco’s Product Evaluation Center (PEC), a huge, glassed-in, immaculate hub for kitchen research and development by Sysco food engineers, scientists, chefs and other experts.

Also committed to high quality frying is Whole Foods and Filta services all 12 locations in the Houston area with microfiltration and removal twice a week as well as the original Whole Foods location (and others) in Austin, Texas, which is handled by local owner Pablo Gracia. Other Houston-area accounts that rely on Filta to keep their kitchens running faster, greener, safer and cleaner include the rapidly expanding local Common Bond Bistros, Texas Southern University, The University of Houston, Texas A&M University, Cinemark Movie Theaters, Margaritaville Resort, Moody Gardens and multiple corporate cafeterias such as Hewlett Packard, Halliburton, Shell Oil, Chevron Phillips and Phillips 66 World Headquarters locations. Filta even provides safe, environmentally friendly service for churches such as The Woodlands Methodist Church which has commercial kitchens with deep fryers as part of its ministry.

To learn more, about Filta ownership and the available territories, contact Rob Totten at rtotten@filta.com. To learn more about Filta’s services including fryer cleaning, microfiltration and waste oil removal/recycling, please call 866-51-FILTA or visit GoFilta.com for 24-hour live chat.

The post Mike Powers Keeps Kitchen Grease Management at NASA Space Center, Sysco Food’s World HQ, NRG Stadium, and 50+ Houston-area Hospitals Running Like Well-Oiled Machines first appeared on Filta.

In 2022 the Miami-Dade franchise collected 23,000 gallons of cooking oil that was recycled into biodiesel. This prevented about 230 tons of carbon emissions. Using microfiltration, the franchise helped customers stretch the life of their current oil. This prevented them from buying another 21,000 gallons of oil. It also eliminated another 50 tons of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere. This had a total positive impact of 280 tons of carbon emissions reduction for the year.

Three franchise territories serve South Florida: Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County. Nechuta co-owns the Miami-Dade franchise with Sergio Moya. Their business filters recycles oil into biodiesel from a host of commercial kitchens in restaurants. These include Cerveceria La Tropical in Wynwood (which was a major focus of the Miami Herald article) and hospitals like Jackson Health System and the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. They also work with universities like Florida International University and Miami-Dade College. Additionally, they service stadiums like LoanDepot Park where the Miami Marlins play and the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Furthermore Filta Miami-Dade works in corporate dining and kitchens at Telemundo, Royal Caribbean, FPL and the Burger King headquarters.

The article concludes with the following statement attributed to George Philippidis, director of the sustainable energy concentration at the University of South Florida: “There isn’t enough used cooking oil in the world to meet all of our fuel needs…but because biofuels made from used cooking oils emit less carbon than biofuels made from other feedstocks, it’s a good idea to recycle every drop of cooking oil companies like Filta can collect.”

To read the full Miami Herald article which was published on the front page of the Sunday, June 18 business section, click here. For more information about Filta ownership and the available territories, contact Rob Totten at rtotten@filta.com. Interested in Filta’s services including fryer cleaning, microfiltration, waste oil removal/recycling, please call 866-51-FILTA or visit GoFilta.com for 24-hour live chat.

The post Miami Herald: Filta’s Miami-Dade Franchisees Filtered, Collected Oil to Recycle for Biodiesel, Saving 280 Tons of Carbon Emission in 2022 first appeared on Filta.

Recently InPark Magazine published a feature profiling how Filta is saving money, time and the valuable resource of oil for theme parks nationwide like Hersheypark in Pennsylvania, Wild Waves Theme and Waterpark in Seattle, LEGOLAND, Trader’s Village in Houston, and many more.

In that magazine article, Michelle Phy, revenue manager at Alabama Adventure & Splash Adventure shared that “Filta has been cleaning our fryers for over two years…Filta comes in, gets the job done and leaves the restaurants cleaner than when they started.”

And Olivia Haist, concessions manager for Hersheypark, noted her park maintains oil quality for longer periods of time thanks to filtration and that’s a win not only for the environment but for savings all around in the Pennsylvania park.

“At the end of each year we get to see how our partnership has had a positive impact on efforts like reducing greenhouse gasses and saving in packaging,” Haist said.

These positives were all shared just last week at the annual Amusement & Theme Park Food Service Conference Trade Show hosted by Cedar Fair in Sandusky, Ohio. Towanda Crawley-Taylor (National Accounts Manager), Ben Gofton (Business Development Representative) and Melissa Smith-Hignite (VP of Sales and Marketing for the Cedar Point-area Franchise) were the Filta executives that met with a host of attendees to share how filtration saves not only time and money for kitchens but has also a huge positive impact on the environment and increases a park’s sustainability footprint.

Representatives from King’s Dominion, Carowinds, and Cedar Point all met with the Filta team in Ohio and the team is looking forward to sharing more about how filtration, filtration, filtration is the name of the game for winning in amusement parks.

To read the entire InPark Magazine feature, click here. To contact one of the Filta executives from the Ohio trade show last week, email Towanda at ttaylor@filta.com, call 866-51-FILTA, or go to www.gofilta.com for 24-hour live chat.

The post Amusement Parks Coast to Coast Go Green with Filta first appeared on Filta.

Since the pandemic began, the price of vegetable oil has more than doubled. Add in the supply chain issues generated with the Ukrainian/Russian conflict and there is some major trouble bubbling up in kitchen finances everywhere. However, there is a simple solution: micro-filtering the cooking oil using a service, such as Filta’s Active Fryer Management, which can stretch that precious commodity, providing a three-pronged win – win – win and a measurable competitive edge.

1. Save on Cooking Oil

Cooking oil filtration leads to a reduced overall oil consumption, allowing kitchen operators to spend less money on fresh oil, giving them a competitive advantage over a commodity that has become increasingly difficult to find. Filta’s proprietary micro-filtration system filters the cooking oil down to 3-5 microns (the size of a blood cell) and can potentially extend fryer oil life by up to 50%.

Reusing a perfectly fine product with plenty of life remaining in it is clearly more efficient from an economic and environmental perspective. Food can and does taste just as good when cooking oil is micro-filtered since the micro-filtration process removes the impurities and reduces the onset of chemical breakdown, resulting in consistent food presentation.

2. Reduce Waste

When commercial kitchens filter their cooking oil, they’re able to minimize waste by using less oil for cooking, which on the other hand means lessened carbon footprint on the environment. And the waste oil doesn’t really go to waste. After the oil has reached the end if its useful life, it is collected and sent to be recycled into biodiesel, providing an important new source of alternative fuel.

To quantify the environmental advantage, Filta provides an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to interested customers. These EIRs take real data to show how the reduced waste can positively impact the environment. For example, Filta owners in California doing work in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone at just three venues (JT Schmid’s, the Honda Center, and UC Irvine Brandywine) yielded packaging savings, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced fertilizers and pesticides for a total positive impact that was like planting nearly 3,400 trees. (422 trees from JT Schmid’s work + 1,117 trees from Honda Center impacts + 1,838 trees at UC Irvine Brandywine = 3,377, so nearly 3,400 total!)

With numbers like these and more and more businesses prioritizing environmental, social and governance (ESG), it’s clear to see why filtration is important.

3. Promote Kitchen Safety

No one wants a burn accident but sadly, that happens all too often in commercial kitchens nationwide with untrained workers rushing to do a dangerous job.

Consider that during one two-year period, emergency rooms treated almost 45,000 injuries among teenaged restaurant workers alone and nearly half of those injuries involved hot grease, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). One of the last things any commercial kitchen operator wants is an employee accident.

When Filta comes in to service the fryers – whether filtrating or dumping – trained experts with proper equipment do the job, freeing up the kitchen staff for safer and more urgent jobs, preventing lost work time and increasing employee safety.

Cooking oil is a valuable resource but if not properly filtered it can be a major drain on your budget. Committing to filtering your fryer oil can potentially save you money and resources in the long run by extending the life of this critical ingredient in your foodservice operation.

The post 3 Reasons Why You Should Be Filtering Your Cooking Oil first appeared on Filta.