Out of the fryer -- and into the clink

 

Oil is sizzling -- in deep fryers and on the black market. Oil is sizzling -- in deep fryers and on the black market.

So, whaddya in for?"

"Theft."

"Excellent, man, whaddya pinch?"

"Uh… er…something."

"Come on, man, I'm your cellmate. Tell me."

"Used cooking oil."

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha!"

It might not be the toughest-sounding crime, but stealing cooking oil, fryer grease, WVO (waste vegetable oil) – whatever you want to call it – is on the rise.

Restaurants clean out their deep fryers pretty often (at least we hope they do) and once oil has fried chicken wings or french fries or bubble gum, it still has value and can be converted into biodiesel or animal feed.

Restaurant owners used to pay to have their waste oil removed. Then companies began hauling it for free. Now some eateries are getting paid for their fat, while others exchange it for rebates on future oil purchases or cash off their waste-hauling bill.

So with rising fuel prices, it's probably no surprise that used cooking oil has become a target, often an easy one, for thieves.

Many crooks simply pull up to a restaurant, vacuum out the "liquid gold" from an unlocked grease container and move on, with little chance of getting caught. Usually it's the waste haulers who discover the crime, when they roll up and find there's nothing to collect.

On the streets, the "hot oil" can fetch about 15 cents a pound, or about $1.20 a gallon.

One Virginia waste-oil collection company says it's losing $80,000 a week to theft.

But it's a crime that's still off most police departments' radars, especially when they have other priorities and are facing cuts in a tight economy.

Still, some are beginning to crack down, setting up sting operations and making arrests. The charges can be serious, too, like grand larceny, which might mean jail time and that "whaddya in for?" question.

We are going to cover this issue closely, because it's costing waste companies money, because it's threatening the supply stream for biodiesel processors, and because it's another example of "waste" turning out to be a valuable resource.

Oh, and because we love fried foods.

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