Some compare it to the smell of french fries others say it has the scent of crayons. Either way, demand for biodiesel is rising in B.C. and one company is turning to local restaurants to increase the supply.

Fourteen North Shore restaurants have joined the Restaurant Green Zone, a recognition program that lets diners know which eateries are supplying their used cooking oils to be converted into biodiesel.

The restaurants will soon be sporting Green Zone stickers to identify their environmental commitment.

“This will help bring down the carbon footprint in B.C.,” says Robert Greene project resource manager for Effective Resource Management BioSource, the company that launched the Green Zone program. “We guarantee that all the biodiesel is sold in B.C.”

BioSource buys the oil from restaurants, a service that eateries used to have to pay for. However, Greene says they can only use non-hydrogenated cooking oil because hydrogenated oil is bad for your engine and bad for your health.

“We need their used (non-hydrogenated) frying oil,” Greene said. “In colder weather the (hydrogenated) oil thickens and it can’t get through the filter.”

Park Heffelfinger, co-owner of Memphis Blues in North Vancouver, said signing up for the program makes economic sense. He added he’d like to add more eco-friendly but cost-effective programs to the restaurant.

“Prior to two years ago we had to pay to have our waste oil removed,” Heffelfinger said. “It’s something I’m feeling very strongly about ... I’d love to reduce more of our waste.”

Now Memphis Blues gets five cents per litre for the oil it contributes. The restaurant produces about 340 litres per week, which is a moderate amount, Greene said.

“Fish fry places do about 400 gallons per week,” he said or more than 1,500 litres of oil.

However, restaurants can’t produce enough oil to meet industry needs. As a result, more farmers are converting fields to grow canola for biodiesel.

“Even if we had all the cooking oil from all the restaurants we wouldn’t be able to (keep pace with demand),” Greene said. “It’s a drop in the bucket for what’s needed.”

BioSource is also working with the City of North Vancouver to set up a community collection point to allow residents to drop off their used cooking oil.

Many companies take cooking oil from B.C. and sell it in the U.S., Greene said. The profit margin is more than three times better south of the border. However, the Port Coquitlam-based company is committed to keeping locally supplied cooking oil in B.C.

“On the positive side we aren’t tearing up farmland,” Greene said. “We’re recycling what’s already in the food supply.”

Biodiesel produces 80 per cent lower carbon emissions than regular diesel and costs the same. As a result, municipalities, industries and residents are filling their vehicles with the vegetable-based fuel. Some Husky gas stations now offer biodiesel at the pump.

BioSource is now working with restaurants to convince them to quit using hydrogenated oil. In addition to creating trans fats, a major cause of cardiovascular disease, cooking with hydrogenated oils also leaves trace amounts of metal in food.

In partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, BioSource is helping restaurants switch to canola, corn or other non-hydrogenated oils by offering a discount.

The Green Zone initiative recently earned the seal of approval from the B.C. Restaurant and Food Service Association.

“The program is a success on two fronts because it ensures that the cooking oils used are good for the heart and the planet,” said Sharron Tulk, Director of Marketing for BCRFA.

BioSource will continue to work with local restaurants to encourage more of them to sign on to the program. Greene said reducing and reusing waste is becoming just another part of the restaurant business.

“Everyone has to realize their part in the cycle,” Greene said.

Local restaurants are supplying their used cooking oil waste to fuel