Selling Used Cooking Oil Might be a Scam, Depending on Which Company is Used.
ST. LOUIS, MO (STL.News) A close friend has six restaurants; other friends have four more. As you can imagine, restaurants use a significant amount of cooking oil. While we have not thoroughly investigated, all of my friends who own restaurants sell their oil to companies that buy used cooking oil (UCO).
They typically pay approximately .12 to .15 cents per pound, which makes no sense because they pump it out of dumpsters designed to hold used cooking oil.
My question is, how do they know how many lbs belong to each restaurant that they pick up from? They pump it out of a trash dumpster-like container into a massive truck with a pump; holding that, they pick up UCO from multiple facilities on a route. I have difficulty believing the truck is measuring in lbs. versus gallons.
The trucks are estimated to cost $150,000 new, and the dumpster-like holding takes to have to cost $500 or more.
The companies take the UCO to their facility and sell it to either Biodiesel plants or on the commodities market for an estimated price of .75 cents.
However, the primary concern is that we have found that anybody is being paid for their Used Cooking Oil (UCO). The companies tell the restaurants that people are stealing their used cooking oil.
We do not believe that is the case. There is a definite pattern to this situation, and if it were the case, why don’t the companies lock their containers?
We already have a significant amount of information and witnesses. The investigation should not take much time. If you own a restaurant and are familiar with this situation, we would like to visit with you, and the information will remain confidential. To report, please text or call 417-529-1133.
