SHREWSBURY – Shrewsbury High School seniors Nicole Shen and Jacob Furman are on a mission to recycle used cooking oil.
Their idea started off as a civic action project for school, but the pair decided to reach out to Water and Sewer Superintendent Daniel Rowley to help put their plan into action. Shen and Jacobs presented their research on the benefits of recycling used cooking oil to the Select Board on Sept. 27.
Over the summer, Rowley said that he worked with Shen and Furman and the Assistant Superintendent of Water and Sewer Operations Joseph Kenney to figure out the best recycling methods.
According to Shen, cooking oil harms the environment and the sewer system. She said the two ways to dispose of it include dumping the oil outside, which attracts animals and vermin and impacts the ecosystem, and pouring the oil down the drain, which causes sewer clogs, reduces efficiency of wastewater treatment plants and harms aquatic life.
Some residents utilize external grease traps, which allow some of the oil to spill into the sewer system, Shen said. She noted that most residents dispose of the oil from the grease traps into landfills, which harms the environment.
Through their research, Furman said they realized that used cooking oil can be “transferred into something better” and used for energy. There are companies that collect used cooking oil for free and put the oil through a process called transesterification, which converts the oil into biodiesel and glycerin, he said.
Furman said that biodiesel can be used for engines, furnaces and “whatever diesel purposes you may have.” He noted that biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable, clean burning and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 86%.
The pair decided to partner with Mahoney Environmental, a company that collects used cooking oil and puts it through transesterification. According to Shen, the company services about 5,000 New England restaurants.
