Recycling Used Cooking Oil with Yayasan Lengis Hijau (part 1)

Hey Greensters! 

Mr. Tri received our 3 liters of used cooking oil

Patricia here :) So a few days ago, my sister Vanessa and I went to Yayasan Lengis Hijau to give our used cooking oil so that it could be recycled into biodiesel. We have shared with you the story of our visit to this foundation last year. If you want to learn more about our visit to Yayasan Lengis Hijau and the danger of used cooking oil, please read our past articles, such as (just click the following to go directly to the articles): A Day in Yayasan Lengis Hijau (part 1) , A Day in Yayasan Lengis Hijau (part 2) and A Day in Yayasan Lengis Hijau: the Interview (part 3 - end). 

We all know that we should use our cooking oil up to 3 times only. If you use it many times for cooking, it will be poisonous to our body and it is certainly not good for our health. So, we choose to collect our used cooking oil and give it to Yayasan Lengis Hijau in Denpasar - Bali to be recycled into biodiesel.

The receipt to record how much used cooking oil we submit

Mr. Tri Hermawan (Production Manager) greeted us there. We had a very interesting chat and we got more knowledge that we would like to share with you. Here it is:

There are different types of cooking oil, such as palm oil (in Indonesian language: 'minyak kelapa sawit) and coconut oil (in Indonesian language: 'minyak kelapa'). Palm oil is best used for frying, not for sauteing while coconut oil is best used when you saute the food. Why? Because palm oil has undergone a long chemical process. Although, it is better to make your own coconut oil by frying shredded coconut because if it comes from a factory, it means that it has also been processed with chemicals.

Mr. Tri suggested that we should be back to any kind of natural food. He gave examples such as soybeans. We should choose the yellowish local soybeans. Don't buy a bigger-size soybean that is imported from other countries. In America, a bigger-size soybean is categorized as transgenic and usually it is used for biodiesel as well as corns. Mr. Tri also gave examples to choose brown sugars rather than white sugar. Because brown sugar is more natural and it is heated for only few minutes while white sugar has undergone a long chemical process.

Tips of "When there's no place to recycle used cooking oil"

As you all know, water and oil does not mix. Which is why we should not pour our used cooking oil down the drain or in rivers because this could destroy the environment and cleaning it up would be hard. If your country or city does not have a place that collects used cooking oil to turn it into biodiesel, then getting rid of your used cooking oil would be hard. The only thing you can do is to limit the use of cooking oil to cook your food. Alternative ways are to bake or steam your food. But if you still utilize cooking oil and it really needs to be thrown away, pour the cooking oil over organic trash because cooking oil is made of organic materials. The used cooking oil could still be decomposed by the bacteria in the soil even though the process takes a long time. If it is only a small amount of used cooking oil, you can also throw it into the soil because the soil can decompose it.

We received the receipt

You can also make your own compost for your plants using this used cooking oil. How? 

• Provide a container for making your compost. You can use a metal barrel or keg or a medium size plastic container with a lid. 
• Collect organic trash, such as leftovers, dry leaves, eggshells etc. Put them inside the container. 
• Pour the used cooking oil over the pile of the organic trash. Add some water. 
• Stir and flip over the pile once in a while. Cover the container with the lid. 
• The compost will be ready in a month. How will you know it? It will produce heat. It means the reaction occurs. If you stir and flip over the pile and it is getting cooler, then the compost is ready for your plants. 

Besides biodiesel, used cooking oil can be recycled into many other things, such as composts, soap, glycerin, biogas, bioethanol, animal feeds and many more.

For those who are interested in learning more or conducting a research on used cooking oil, you can contact Yayasan Lengis Hijau as follows:

Yayasan Lengis Hijau

Jl. Cargo Sari 4X, Ubung Kaja, 

Denpasar 80116 - Bali

Indonesia

Phone: +623618443217

Website: www.lengishijau.or.id

The dirt out of filtered used cooking oil

So, we submitted 3 liters of used cooking oil to Yayasan Lengis Hijau today. It is only from our home. We collect it for months because we try to limit the use of palm oil for frying food. Mr. Tri made a note on how much we submitted today and we received a receipt for that. Great!

Always remember that small things have big impacts if we do it NOW!

Thank you for reading. 

Let's save our Earth. 

Love, 

Patricia Cornelia

Surfer Girl's Green Ambassador 2012 - 2014

2014 International Young Eco-Hero Award

Founder of Green Team Indonesia