babbling primitive greases

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3250244

This is a brand-new bonfire; the primitives and sub-primitives haven't seen it yet.

I'll update as the primitives and sub-primitives blame it on Bush.

babylonsister  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue May-06-08 08:08 AM
Original message

Grease bandits strike as biofuel demand rises
   
As the price of this waste product and biodiesel ingredient has risen, so have thefts.

By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the May 6, 2008 edition

San Jose, Calif. - Mark Rosenzweig watched with suspicion as a tanker truck sidled up to a local Burger King's grease bin last month. The driver plunged a hose into the 300-gallon tub of used French-fry grease and slurped it into his tank.

Mr. Rosenzweig called the police, patiently citing legal codes to convince them that, yes, grease theft is a crime. He should know. As a legitimate grease collector, he has his livelihood stolen four to five times a month these days.

In March, grease bandits in South Bend, Ind., broke bin locks to get to their oozy booty. One collector, Griffin Industries Inc., has two detectives working cases in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, Missouri, and against an entire grease gang in northern Arkansas.

Grease is a traded commodity like gold or pork bellies, and its price has tripled in the past two years – leading to increased theft. The reason: Grease can be used to make bio-diesel and has seen the same price spike as corn and other biofuel inputs.

"We monitor grease theft on a regular basis. Right now it's a big issue," says Christopher Griffin, director of legal affairs for Griffin Industries Inc. in Cold Spring, Ky. The company collects raw grease in 20 states and boils and filters it into "yellow grease," which is what is used to make biodiesel.

Yellow grease is becoming liquid gold. It now trades on US commodities markets for 32 cents per pound, up from a low of 12 cents in 2006, according to data from The Jacobsen website.

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0506/p01s03-usgn.html

This looks promising.

[JohnnyReb]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3250244

This looks promising.

What? You thinking about getting out of the antique pig manure business and into stealing fresh Macky-Dee grease or something?

[franksolich]

Actually, there's been only one primitive at this bonfire thus far, making only an obscure oblique reference to "it's Bush's fault."

I'm sure there'll be more.

[franksolich]

What? You thinking about getting out of the antique pig manure business and into stealing fresh Macky-Dee grease or something?

Now, don't be making fun of the William Rivers Pitt; that's good clean sanitary antique dirt out there, and this morning under the Sandhills sun, the flora is thriving.

Actually, I have some sort of "allergy" to grease; I can't handle it, its mere odor making me want to upchuck.

I'm not sure why this is, but when I was manager of a student union at the University of Nebraska some years ago, whenever Big Clyde came to clean out the grease-trap for the building (which had several fast-food businesses), I would be sick for about the next week or so.

[NHSparky]

Stealing used grease is nothing new, believe it or not.  It's just that the primitives, being well, primitives, are only outraged when Olbertard the Overseer TELLS them to be outraged.

[stickyboot]

Stealing used grease is nothing new, believe it or not.  It's just that the primitives, being well, primitives, are only outraged when Olbertard the Overseer TELLS them to be outraged.

This reminds me of a true story. A nearby municipality, which shall remain nameless, suffered for years with complaints of sewage backups and other irregularities on one particular stretch of a main commercial artery near the city limits. Come to find out that a Chinese restaurant in a small strip shopping center had been dumping their used frying grease down the drain for years. The city had to come in and dig up the street and replace a major length of sewer pipe. I don't know the particulars of the costs or the fines against the restaurant, but I do know the street was torn asunder for months while they were trying to get everything and everyone cleaned out.

Too bad they didn't hook up with someone who wanted it so badly.