A Gabriola Island non-profit will continue to ‘grease the wheels’ of vegetable oil reuse with money it was granted from the Regional District of Nanaimo.
Recipients of the RDN’s zero waste recycling funding program were announced earlier this month and the Island Futures Society received $22,800 for its waste vegetable oil recycling program. It was originally utilized to provide bus fuel, but newer buses don’t respond well to biodiesel produced, according to Fay Weller, society board member, so new options were sought, including ones that will benefit farming.
“The other thing that we really want to experiment with, and see how well it works, is using it in a waste vegetable oil heater…” she said, adding that the heaters can only be used for outbuildings. “So we thought, what a great opportunity to see whether or not we can extend the growing season here on Gabriola because we’re trying to increase the amount of local food grown.”
The society is working with Gabriola Agriculture Co-op, as there are farmers with greenhouses who are interested in the initiative, Weller said. Island Futures will purchase a vegetable oil heater for $7,300, a centrifuge to clean the oil for $4,200. $2,000 for marketing, a project manager for $7,200 and a contingency fund of $2,100.
“We have been making a liquid soap from [a glycerin byproduct], but it’d be really good to be able to purify the glycerin further and be able to make a number of other products. By using a centrifuge … we can actually take out a number of the impurities that are in the glycerin,” Weller noted.
Additionally, the society will spend $8,250 to hire a project manager to help get the systems online.
“There are a whole pile of things that we call waste that actually are resources,” Weller said. “They can be used for fuel, they can be used for all kinds of things and if we … start thinking about what can we do with it, I think that would reduce the amount going to the landfill by a tremendous amount.”
In all, $300,000 in zero waste money was granted and with the regional district looking to decrease waste going to the Cedar landfill.
“The Zero Waste Recycling Funding program complements other RDN solid waste reduction initiatives,” said Ben Geselbracht, solid waste committee chairperson, in a press release. “The innovative projects and partnerships being implemented by grant recipients are helping the RDN get closer to its goal of 90 per cent diversion of waste from the landfill by 2027.”
Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank received an $86,000 grant for its food recovery program and development costs for its new warehouse.
RELATED: RDN eyes 90% diversion in new waste management plan
karl.yu@nanaimobulletin.com
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