If you find yourself curiously hungry whilst driving behind a white 4×4 with a MyPE sticker on in future there could be a reason for it.
After months of cajoling, high level talks between his people and mine, deep level espionage (aka browsing Google), I finally decided to fill my bakkie up with used Cooking oil from Greentech Biofuels. One of my experiments was with 100% pure bio-diesel which I used to see if it would start my braai fire – passed 100%. I aped my late father who always used to say that the best way to start a fire was with 3 bags of charcoal (still in the bag), 5 bundles of wood (with the inner tyre binding on), 5 litres of petrol and one match (his nod to conservation!). Our neighbours eventually got used to the regular Sunday lunchtime Armageddon practice.
On Thursday 6 September my bakkie was filled with 50% used Cooking Oil as Hayden Hill from Greentech Biofuels explained:
Greentech collects used cooking oil from restaurants across the city, filters it and puts it through a process to turn it into eco-friendly bio-diesel which is then mixed 50-50 with ‘ordinary’ diesel and sold to businesses and private individuals who are eco and price sensitive.
The price per liter is less than you will pay at the pumps and large users are supplied with an on premise diesel tank that they can dispense from.
After much sniffing of my exhaust I was most disappointed to not get that wonderful aroma of cooking chips – the satisfaction of saving a couple of bob as well as helping to reduce the amount of used cooking oil that is disposed of in a non eco-friendly manner does give me a curious sense of being connected in a responsible way to the environment, though.
One of the by-products of the process of turning used cooking oil into bio-diesel is glycerine. As a businessman that strives to recycle, Hayden is experimenting with making soap from the by-product. Liquid soap dispensers and bar soap with oats added are the first of his experiments. We tried the soap at home and it was pronounced effective if a bit of a strange colour. Of course knowing where it comes from does put one off a bit.
Hayden is one of those guys who is passionate about his product and remains focused. Judging by my initial reluctance to fill up with bio-diesel, despite my awareness of the need to find alternatives, I can understand that gaining new clients involves a lot of responsible marketing and education, BUT, I can also see that once a client is ‘converted’ and sees the multiple benefits including that all important savings aspect then Greentech Biofuels will be well on their way to great success.
Contact Hayden from Greentech Biofuels.
The Meat Wagon gets it’s dose of eco-friendly bio-diesel from Greentech Biofuels owner – Hayden Hill
