Article: Hawkers sold on idea of soap from used oil

Friday August 14, 2009

By TAN SIN CHOW

EVER imagined that cooking oil used for fried chicken, pisang goreng or yau char kuai (Chinese crullers) could be turned into cash?

That is exactly what roadside hawkers, restaurant and food court operators in Seberang Prai are doing at the moment — they are making money by selling their used cooking oil to private companies which then use the oil to make soap bars.

Penang executive councillor Phee Boon Poh said each kilogram of oil could fetch up to between 70 sen and RM1, depending on the quality of oil.

"The food operators are earning extra income from the oil, which they usually throw into the drains," he said at a recent press conference in Komtar.

He said the Seberang Prai Municipal Council was acting as coordinator to assist five private contractors in the project.

"The local council has been educating hawkers and restaurant owners about the sale of used cooking oil.

"Response has been very encouraging as the contractors collect 3,000kg of oil daily,'' he said.

In an unrelated development, Phee said the state government was moving into the second phase of its 'No Plastic Bags Day' initiative.

He said four chain stores, which have 114 outlets statewide, had became the latest inclusion to the initiative.

They are 7-eleven (61), Happy Mart (19), Guardian (21) and Watson (13).

Under the initiative launched in June, no free plastic bags are given to shoppers on Mondays.

Shoppers in participating outlets will be charged 20 sen for each plastic bag.

All the proceeds will be channelled to the state's Partners Against Poverty Campaign in aid of the poor.

This article was taken from: The Star Online: Metro: North 14 August 2009