Prague to install waste oil recycling containers
The city of Prague is preparing a system enabling the recycling of waste oil from households. Containers for used vegetable fat should appear in the city’s collection points by the year 2017. The system has already been successfully introduced in other municipalities across the Czech Republic.
Most household waste oil recycling in the Czech Republic is managed by the company Eko-PF, which specializes in disposal of biodegradable waste. Since 2011, the company has installed containers for waste vegetable oil in around 140 municipalities across the country, including the towns of České Budějovice and Tábor. It provides the service for free, making profit on its sale.
Eko-PF collects at least five tonnes of cooking oil a year, the company’s trade manager, Pavel Marek, told the daily E15. According to the company’s monitoring, the amount of fats caught in water purification plants in municipalities using waste oil containers dropped by half during Christmas and Easter holidays. Around 95 percent of the waste oil collected by Eko-PF is turned into methyl ether, which is subsequently added into biofuels. The rest is used in the rubber industry.
The Czech Republic’s second biggest city, Brno, launched waste oil recycling in February this year. According to city’s waste collecting company SAKO, they collect around 400 kilograms of used vegetable fat a month. According to SAKO’s deputy sales manager, Iveta Jurenová, used fat recycling not only cuts waste but also prevents the clogging of the city’s sewage system.
According to the latest estimates of the environmental group Hnutí Duha, Czechs produce around 40 thousand tonnes of waste oil a year.
