First, the bad news: As restaurant owners and managers know, waste cooking oil poses significant environmental challenges if not disposed of properly. In addition to clogging drains, it can pollute water and soil, according to a study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
The good news is, however, that used cooking oil also offers significant potential as a renewable energy source. “Imagine a world where the ingredients for the food you consume are converted into renewable fuel,” said Diana Geseking, chief legal officer of Restaurant Technologies. “It would simply be a cleaner and healthier planet to live in.”
Here, Geseking, who also serves as the chair of Restaurant Technologies’ ESG committee, discusses how the company’s Total Oil Management solution is helping restaurants bring that vision to life by converting 363.7 million pounds of used cooking oil into renewable diesel or biodiesel in 2024, and how the solution can meet a variety of ESG goals for foodservice operators.
How does the process of converting used cooking oil into renewable diesel or biodiesel help reduce environmental impact, and what role does innovation play in making this transformation more efficient and sustainable?
Bio-based fuels like these reduce our reliance on petroleum by replacing fossil fuels with cleaner, renewable alternatives. And because we recycle oil that’s already been used, we avoid the environmental impacts of growing and processing virgin oil crops, conserving emissions, water and land. Our closed-loop model also eliminates the packaging waste associated with traditional jugs-in-boxes, cutting down significantly on plastic and cardboard sent to landfills.
In fact, by our customers switching to bulk oil delivery and collection, we kept nearly 30 million pounds of waste out of the trash and saved 8.9 million cubic feet of landfill space. Even more significantly, we prevented over 80 million pounds of CO₂e emissions, which is the equivalent of taking 124,368 vehicles off the road.
Innovation is at the heart of this impact. Our custom-designed equipment allows us to deliver oil in bulk and collect used cooking oil that is clean and free of debris, unlike conventional rendering tanks. As a result, nearly every drop of oil we collect can be converted into renewable fuel instead of going to waste. This high standard of quality control makes the entire recycling process more efficient, more reliable and better for the environment.
Our partnerships with convenience stores such as Sheetz and Chevron Renewable Energy Group are just one example of industry leaders coming together to form an innovative sustainability solution and process. Together, we have built a circular fuel economy where we deliver fresh cooking oil to Sheetz, it gets used in their fryers, Restaurant Technologies collects it, REG converts it and we deliver it back to Sheetz to be used in their fryers. The potential is nearly limitless.
Restaurant Technologies has significantly increased its sustainability efforts, recycling over 363 million pounds of used cooking oil in 2024. What strategies or innovations were key to achieving this record-breaking milestone?
Our customers and renewable energy partners play a pivotal role in helping us make it all happen. As mentioned earlier, 100% of the used cooking oil we collect is recycled so, as Restaurant Technologies grows and delivers more oil to more customers, we will also be able to recycle more oil. To put it simply, the bigger we are, the more that gets recycled but that doesn’t mean we’re content depending on this growth.
Also mentioned earlier was the circular fuel economy and the potential for expanding that into other convenience stores. We are also present in many universities and theme parks where buses and shuttle services run on fuel. There is potential there for converting used cooking oil from dining halls and food courts and using them for public transportation on campuses across the country. While we’ve been around for over 25 years now, it really feels like we’re just getting started when it comes to sustainability.
You have a diverse customer base that includes industries like restaurants, hotels and grocery stores. How does Restaurant Technologies collaborate with these customers to help them meet their ESG goals?
We are proud to play such a significant role in our customer’s ESG strategy. Every single customer can say that their business is more sustainable when they work with us. We work with various national franchises such as McDonald’s, Shake Shack and Yum! Brands, among others, on their annual ESG publication to report on the used cooking oil we recycled together.
It’s not a secret that sustainability is huge within the hotels/resorts industry. Many hotels, especially the ‘big’ ones, are required to report sustainability statistics monthly, quarterly and/or annually to corporate with the promise of incentives/rewards based on how sustainable that hotel/resort is. So our partnership with them is pivotal to help them achieve their own sustainability goals.
Restaurant Technologies helped save 29.6 million pounds of trash and reduced CO2e emissions by over 80 million pounds. Can you provide more details on how these outcomes directly impact the environment and the communities where your customers operate?
Our business, naturally, helps protect the environment. Before we even recycle and convert UCO, our closed loop automated systems are already protecting water sources from grease spills and runoff that could find its way into nature. Saving pounds of trash, reducing emissions and all the other aforementioned benefits inherently come with avoiding plastic and cardboard packaging from conventional JIBs, which are not recyclable due to the oil residue left behind. The additional emissions we prevent by displacing petroleum-based fuels leads to improved local air quality and contribute to global efforts to slow the most extreme effects of climate change. Together, these outcomes support cleaner, more sustainable communities.
Sustainability is clearly a core value at Restaurant Technologies. Looking ahead, what are some of the key goals or initiatives the company has for continuing to break sustainability records and pushing the envelope in the renewable energy space?
We really believe our potential is sky-high to make a difference. While nothing is definite, we are always thinking about what’s next – from expanding the circular fuel economy to other convenience stores and utilizing UCO for college dining halls/food courts, to sourcing cooking oil from regenerative farms to reduce impact at the start of the supply chain. We’re also looking at ways to expand the use of biofuel in our own fleet and support innovation in renewable energy, including emerging solutions like sustainable aviation fuel.
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