Taizhou launched the "Oil Enlightenment" household waste oil recycling activity, and the "waste oil" for cooking vegetables is also a treasure

There is no absolute garbage in the world, only misplaced resources.

Recently, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province launched the "Oil Rebirth" household waste oil recycling activity, through the operation of the pilot community, calling on the public to form a sense of recycling household waste oil, and at the same time, explore and establish a long-term mechanism for waste oil recycling, realize the resource utilization of waste oil, and reduce environmental pollution.

"Oil rebirth", pilot household waste oil recycling

Recently, in the square of Donghui Community, Taiping Street, Wenling, the theme activity of garbage classification is being held. At the event site, a unified recycling point for household waste oil was set up, and the owners of the community were lining up in an orderly manner to exchange the collected waste oil for gifts. The reporter noticed that many owners were carrying a small bottle in their hands. "I poured all this oil out of the range hood and saved it up."

Others took out expired cooking oil from their homes. "These two bottles of oil have been left at home for several years, and they have been forgotten to use them, and they have expired. It's a little reluctant to throw it away, and I don't know what to do with it if I don't throw it. Today's activity is very good, not only did I recycle the expired cooking oil, but the staff also gave me such a big kettle, which was very practical. ”

This is the first household waste oil recycling activity carried out by Wenling. Household waste oils and fats mainly come from kitchen oils, including waste edible oils and grease deposits generated in the daily cooking process. Mao Lingting, head of the comprehensive group of the Wenling Municipal Domestic Waste Classification Leading Group Office, told reporters that after the waste oil is recycled, it will be handed over to the local organic matter recycling center for processing, and refined into industrial oil and aviation oil through technical processing.

"After the waste oil is initially processed and refined, it is handed over to professional chemical companies, which can be made into soap, biodiesel, etc., and the resources are recycled. Donghui Community is a pilot and starting point for our household waste oil recycling activities. In the next step, we will gradually roll out this activity. Mao Lingting said.

Waste grease is discharged into the environment, which is easy to cause pollution

According to the statistics of relevant departments, Taizhou family kitchens produce nearly 4,000 tons of waste grease every year. Most of this grease is poured into the sewer or thrown into the kitchen waste. "If you don't recycle the waste grease, like my family, it will be poured directly into the sink, but if the weather is cold, the water pipes will easily clog." "My family dumps waste oil into small bottles and throws it in the trash."

The direct discharge of oily sewage into the sewer will lead to the scaling and blockage of the municipal drainage pipe network, because it is not easy to clean, and it is easy to cause local paralysis of the urban drainage pipe network. At the same time, if these oils and fats are discharged at will, they will also pollute the environment, and they are more likely to be illegally processed into gutter oil, which is harmful to health.

"If waste grease is directly landfilled, it will pollute the soil, and the leachate will also pollute the water. If it is incinerated, it will require higher energy consumption and require more accelerants or fuels to incinerate it. There may also be a small amount of grease that is recycled by some unscrupulous individuals and flows back to the table. Chen Xiaozhen, director of the Comprehensive Coordination Office of the Taizhou Municipal Classification Office, said.

On March 22 this year, Taizhou City launched the "Oil Rebirth" household waste oil recycling activity, set up pilot communities in various places, and implemented household waste oil recycling, aiming to improve the level of waste oil pollution prevention and control by strengthening source control, and realize the reduction, harmlessness and resource disposal of waste oil.

"Household waste oil recycling can improve the efficiency of our waste sorting and make efficient use of organic matter resources. At the same time, it can also prevent soil, water and air pollution, thereby improving the quality of our environment. Chen Xiaozhen told reporters that the recycling of household waste oil in the pilot community is also a further expansion of the resource utilization of waste oil on the basis of the comprehensive recycling of waste oil in the catering industry in Taizhou City.

Since 2020, Taizhou has carried out a comprehensive mandatory and professional recycling of food waste in the catering industry, including "gutter oil". According to the regulations, these small and medium-sized restaurants signed recycling agreements with local professional and qualified waste oil disposal enterprises, set up grease traps, and third-party companies regularly and fixed-point door-to-door "oil scooping" for free.

"It mainly focuses on the recycling of food waste in restaurants, as well as in canteens such as some government agencies and schools. At present, in Taizhou alone, more than 100 tons of food waste and more than 30 tons of waste oil are recycled every day. Chen Xiaozhen said.

Turn waste into treasure and recycle resources

At present, the household waste oil in the pilot communities of Jiaojiang, Huangyan, Luqiao and Taizhou Bay New Area, as well as the "gutter oil" fished out of the grease trap of the catering industry, have been transported to the organic matter recycling center in Taizhou City for centralized treatment.

In the workshop, barrels of waste grease are finally separated into water, oil and slag after impurity removal, filtration, and high-temperature cooking under machine operation. Don't underestimate these waste grease and "gutter oil", their actual oil content is not low. According to the statistics of relevant departments, the oil content of kitchen waste is 3%, the oil content of "gutter oil" is 30%, and the oil content of waste grease recovered from household range hoods is more than 90%.

Chen Jianmin, a staff member of the Taizhou Urban Organic Matter Recycling Center, said: "The oil we refine will be sold to qualified chemical companies, purified into ethanol or raw materials for domestic chemicals, and can also be refined into biodiesel for use in the aerospace field." ”

The purified oil, as a raw material for biodiesel and industrial oil, can be sold at 6,000-7,000 yuan per ton.

"With the improvement of the waste oil industry chain, it is basically rare to return to the table. Because the value of grease has risen, as a raw material for aviation fuel and industrial oil, they bring high economic benefits, and the 'gutter oil' will be greatly reduced and returned to the table. Chen Xiaozhen said that in recent years, the waste oil in the catering industry has been significantly improved after standardized and orderly recycling, the level of waste oil resource utilization has been greatly improved, and food safety has also been guaranteed. Therefore, the disposal of household waste grease is also on the agenda.

According to the requirements of the "Oil Rebirth" household waste oil recycling activity, special collection containers for oil and fat are set up in each pilot community, or centralized recycling activities are regularly held by waste oil disposal enterprises, communities and volunteers to classify and collect waste oil; Establish a points exchange mechanism to attract community owners to participate, and reward points according to the quantity and quality of waste oil recycled by residents. Points can be redeemed for daily necessities such as dish soap and paper towels.

Chen Xiaozhen said that next, the garbage classification office will rectify the problems in a timely manner according to the operation of these pilot communities, copy some good experiences and practices, and gradually promote the "oil rebirth" activity to more communities, so that more residents can participate in the accurate classification of garbage, so that waste oil can be turned into treasure.

"Through these standardized and scientific recycling channels, we can turn our domestic waste into treasure and realize the efficient recycling of the earth's resources. Especially for oils and fats, the value is relatively high, and its recycling can reduce the consumption of resources, achieve the goal of 'recycling, low carbon emissions', and also improve the environment of our entire city. Chen Xiaozhen said.