What To Do With The Leftovers
Ah, Thanksgiving, the mother of all leftover generators. Yes, everyone has fond memories of days and days and days and days of recycled turkey after the big feast. Pot pies, casseroles, soups, sandwiches, turkey mornay, turkey salad, turkey tetrazzini why - just about anything can be made with turkey leftovers.
In the U.S. South, folks like their Thanksgiving Day turkey deep fried — and the city of Plano north of Dallas collects the bird fat from residents for use in the biofuels industry.
"This is our busiest time, the week after Thanksgiving. We collect about 500 gallons of turkey fat during that time," said Lois Woolf, a Plano City worker, as she hoisted a plastic container of oil left outside someone's home for collection.
In 2005, Plano collected 1,200 gallons of cooking oil, the vast majority turkey fryer fat. The bulk of it is picked up during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
The turkey fat is donated to Biodiesel Industries, the first renewable energy-powered plant producing biodiesel fuel in the state of Texas.
Biofuels are gaining favour as an alternative "clean" fuel amid growing concerns about carbon emissions linked to climate change, high oil prices and instability in crude producing regions like the Middle East.
This is even the case in pockets of Texas, the heart of the massive U.S. oil industry.
"The City of Plano has a rolling stock of 700-800 vehicles and 59 of these are using hybrid or alternative fuels," said Melinda Sweney, the Sustainability Communications Coordinator for Plano.
Plano collects the oil from residents who call in and ask for pick-ups — and there is plenty of demand in a region where people like their food fried and crispy.
I haven't fried a turkey in a while, but they are delicious. Getting rid of the vat of oil afterward can be a challenge unless you live in a castle under seige, however. So this is a pretty smart effort on the part of Plano, I think.
Energy, Environment | Gaius Monday, 27 November , 2006
By steveH, Monday, 27 November , 2006 @ 5:34 pm
It would really be smart if it were cost effective…but there’s no way that it is. They collect ~25 gallons of used oil per year for each vehicle that actually uses this inefficient fuel? Nonsense. No doubt, there are at least a half-dozen people involved in this scheme. Pipe dreams are free…unicorn-chasing goverment scams are not.
By steveH, Monday, 27 November , 2006 @ 5:37 pm
For clarity, let me amend that post: “No doubt, there are at least a half-dozen people involved in the administration of this scheme.”
By Gaius, Monday, 27 November , 2006 @ 5:39 pm
Yeah, but it at least gives people a way to dispose of the used oil. That stuff’s a drag to deal with.
Not that it’s cost effective or anything.
By steveH, Tuesday, 28 November , 2006 @ 5:33 pm
True, true. I’ve deep fried more than one turkey, and a couple of gallons of peanut oil is more than I’ve ever felt comfortable re-bottling and throwing in the trashcan. Although…it isn’t a petrochemical, and with the way dumps are built these days, there is only a slight chance that the oil would ever enter the watershed.
By the way, I only just found your blog a couple or three days ago, and immediately bookmarked it (after reading 8-9 pages of previous posts). High quality writing and a wry sense of humor is always a Good Thing.
By Gaius, Tuesday, 28 November , 2006 @ 5:46 pm
Thanks, Steve. Glad you like it.