A recycling program that turns a big mess into big benefits
San Francisco has a combined sewer system, which means both sanitary sewage (from homes and businesses) and rainwater are collected through 1,000+ miles of sewer pipes and treated at one of three treatment plants. Used cooking oils are a serious problem for San Francisco's sewers, clogging the pipes and costing us all a lot of money--over $3.5 million each year to unclog the pipes. When poured down the drain, cooking oil solidifies into thick layers inside drainpipes and sewer pipes, constricting water flow the way cholesterol affects blood flow in arteries. Clogged sewers result in unsanitary back-ups, overflows onto streets, foul-smelling odors, and costly damage to sewer infrastructure.
Residential kitchens and commercial restaurants are the largest controllable sources of fats, oils and grease (FOG) in the City’s sewer system. The SFPUC's Water Pollution Prevention Program targets FOG as a “pollutant of concern” and works towards improving water quality through pollution prevention strategies. Click here to view a pdf of the San Francisco map showing SFGreasecycle's used cooking oil collection sites.
Launched in 2007, SFPUC's SFGreasecycle is a citywide effort that diverts FOG away from the sewers and turns it into biofuel. We are collecting used cooking oil from City restaurants for FREE and recycling it into biodiesel, an environmentally friendly alternative to petroleum diesel. San Francisco fleets will soon run on biofuel made from used cooking oils provided by our local restaurants. Restaurants can SIGN UP for FREE collection services by clicking here. It only takes a few minutes to start saving. For residents, we have permanent drop-off locations and yearly collection events throughout the City.
For more information and service requests, please contact our SFGreasecycle Coordinator, Karri Ving at kving@sfwater.org. You can also call her directly at (415) 695-7366. For technical and engineering assistance, you can contact our Behind-the-Scenes Partners at biofuelrecycling@gmail.com. See below the bios of our SFGreasecycle Program Staff.
Click here for program information in Spanish and Chinese.
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SFGreasecycle Program Staff (86 KB)
