While some might say we've seen "Peak Waste Vegetable Oil", there is still plenty of oil out there to be had. Sure, the days are gone where individuals randomly poach a restaurant's waste oil by offering free collection, but when folks can offer 10 cents a gallon to secure a restaurant into a contract, then it might as well be free.
I am by no means a proponent of paying for Waste Vegetable Oil, but I am saying that it's available for the individual if you want it(and how could you not want fuel independence and your exhaust smelling like french fries). The oil is around. Billions of gallons a year are being dumped into containers behind restaurants every year. The difference now is that oil is more of a commodity. It's fetching $2.50+ for unfiltered yellow grease. Companies, entrepreneurs, and restaurant owners know it now has value and that has changed the game.
Are we to curdle up and wallow in hydrogenated fat about this development, casting out our fine tuned processors and modified vehicles because it actually takes creativity and effort to find oil? Well, if you want everything in life to be simple and competition scares you, then yes, give it up. But, if you like the idea of super-cheap fuel and running your vehicle on oil, and can handle some adversity, then step up to the challenge.
We greasers have had to adopt a different angle, or competitive advantage at securing our liquid gold. It's not hard to come up with solutions once we get over the fact that no one is going to hand us oil.
Here are some tips for attaining oil:
- Market research - Find out who has the monopoly on the restaurants in the area. Are the restaurants being paid for their oil? Are the potential contracts legitimate or can the restaurant change services whenever they like? Do the restaurants like their service?
- Professionalism - Don't show up in greasy clothes with some old buckets asking for a restaurants oil. It would help to be in nice attire and have some printed literature to show the potential client you are seeking to establish a business relationship with.
- Add Value - If you provide the restaurant with a value added service, it will be received better than just taking their trash/commodity and give an advantage over the big guys. Some ways to add value to your collection service would be powerwashing the dumpster area, eating there with friends, marketing promotion(having a decal on your vehicle), oil filtration, massages for staff, and on and on and on. You can also stress the importance of keeping resources local, using oil to fuel local vehicles instead of feeding cattle in Argentina.
