Private and Government Partnership Yayasan Lengis Hijau and Denpasar City Government - Recycling used-cooking-oil into Bio-diesel for Gensets and School Buses

Deep frying is a common way of food preparation in Indonesia, both at home and in hotels or restaurants. In Bali, it is estimated that around four million liters of used cooking oil (UCO) is produced by households alone and between 80 to 120-kilo liter of UCO produced by hotels and restaurants. No figure on the volume of UCO produced by food stalls (streets stalls or warung) but the number is expected to be high due to a large number of street food stalls in the community. In short, a huge volume of UCO is produced by our kitchen activities.

Allegedly, many street traders (pedagang kaki lima) also re-use UCO as cooking oil for preparing their foods. The health impacts of the repetitive use of used-cooking-oil are well understood within the medical world but less on the general public due to long-term or slow effects on people’s life and little efforts of the government to create or improve awareness among people. Excessive heating of foods leads to the production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and free radicals which have carcinogenic effects that destroy food nutrients and potentially damaging our health. If used-cooking-oil is released directly into nature without any treatments, it could cause pollution on the surface running water, destruction of water organisms, and soil. Yayasan Lengis Hijau (YLH) comes to provide good solutions to overcome the problem of UCO. YLH has set up facilities in Denpasar City to recycle used-cooking-oil into bio-diesel. Currently, YLH operates in six districts: Badung, Bangli, Denpasar, Gianyar, Karangasem, and Tabanan.

Policy Recommendations
• Establishing department at a provincial level that focuses on New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Development for easier coordination and communication at the provincial level
• Setting up a clear policy on waste management specifically for used-cooking-oil
• Greater campaign on health risk on the use of used-cooking-oil for food preparation
• Regulation regarding the use of high content of biodiesel (B100) and vehicles’ manufacturer guarantee
• Policy and incentives for consumers who use biodiesel
• Further research for biofuel real-life performance tests, fuel efficiency, storage with regards to contamination and microorganism, effects of biodiesel on engine’s parts, the use of fuel filters
• Research on improving existing catalyst or identifying new catalyst material for processing used-cooking-oil to become bio-diesel
• Establishing guidelines and mechanisms for complying with 18 SNI standards on biodiesel production.

The full article is available at https://core.unud.ac.id/download/private-and-government-partnership-yayasan-lengis-hijau-and-denpasar-city-government-recycling-used-cooking-oil-into-bio-diesel-for-gensets-and-school-buses/