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New Strength from Used Cooking Oil

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5 August 2016 14:58 WIB

Biodiesel fuel produced by the Lengis foundation in Bali. Private doc.

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chief of Denpasar's Environment Agency, Anak Agung Bagus Sudharsana, was elated that he was returning to Bali with the Adipura Adiwiyata Award from the Environment Day commemoration in Siak, Riau, on July 22. The Green School, an international high school in Badung Regency, Bali, was judged to have played a major role in preserving the environment.

Since last May, a group of Green School students took the initiative of operating a bio-bus as their school shuttle vehicle. The bio-bus was powered by fuel made of recycled used-cooking oil. Using this bio-diesel, the kids thought, could be a useful way to reduce environmental pollution and prevent the hazardous effects of used cooking oil on humans. "Recycling used-cooking oil has many positive sides," Bagus Sudharsana told Tempo English two weeks ago.

Turning used-cooking oil into biodiesel is the result of a collaboration between the Green School, Denpasar's Environment Agency, and the Green Oil Foundation, or Yayasan Lengis Hijau. This nongovernmental organization (NGO) began introducing the biodiesel after the Swiss-based NGO, Caritas Switzerland, handled a project introducing renewable energy in certain regions in Indonesia, including Aceh, Yogyakarta and Bali, in 2011. Caritas collaborated with Green Oil and the Denpasar Environment Agency to introduce the recycled used- cooking oil as environmentally friendly fuel to local residents.

As initial capital, Caritas provided Green Oil and the agency a processing machine to transform cooking oil into quality biodiesel. The machine is worth Rp3.5 billion, and was brought in from Southampton, England. "Caritas contributed the machine, we introduced and promoted the biodiesel," said Endra Setyawan, Green Oil director.

Endra said there were now hundreds of partners collaborating with Green Oil to recycle used cooking oil into biodiesel. Among them are the Green School, a number of restaurants and hotels like the Courtyard by Marriott Bali Nusa Dua, Ramada Bintang Bali Resort and Spa, W Retreat and Spa Seminyak, and Pan Pacific Nirwana Resort. Some of these hotels and restaurants provide the used-cooking oil, others use the biodiesel for their needs. Green Oil does not target people as consumers in order not to disrupt Pertamina's biodieselmarket.

A lecturer of food technology at Udayana University, Bali, Anom Yuarini appreciated the efforts of Green Oil to utilize recycled cooking oil. Yuarini explained that recycled biodiesel has various benefits. As diesel fuel, the biodiesel is biodegradable so that it is safe for the environment, keeps the engine clean, intensifies lubrication and reduces emission. She added the use of biodiesel could minimize the reuse of used-cooking oil. 

Used-cooking oil poses health dangers as it contains carcinogenic compounds that can decrease thinking capacity and also causes cancer. Yuarini also expects that the processing of used-cooking oil into biodiesel can reduce the production of 'new cooking oil' by trash collectors. A known practice by collectors is bleaching used-cooking oil with chemicals making it look clean and appearing like new oil. The new cooking oil circulates in the market at a cheaper price and it is consumed by many people. 

"No wonder nowadays many people suffer from cancer and other health problems," Yuarini said. The lecturer researched the employment of used-cooking oil for her dissertation. 

Endra said that processing of used-cooking oil into biodiesel would reduce environmental pollution. Used oil is often dumped by users onto soil, causing it to pollute the earth, the water-table, and existing ground water. According to Endra, a mere liter of used-cooking oil can pollute 500 liters of water around it.

Research by Green Oil showed that 50-60 percent of used-cooking oil from hotels and restaurants in Bali could end up in small eateries. "Imagine if 2,500 liters of used cooking oil from 340 hotels and restaurants in Bali are used by irresponsible parties," Endra said. (*)

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