LiveSmart BC Community Hero
LiveSmart BC Community Hero: Greg Jackson
What started off as an environmentally conscious choice ended up saving Greg Jackson at Joey’s Only a lot of money. When the price of gas went skyrocketing last summer, it didn’t phase Jackson at all. He converted his car to enable it to use something more economical than fuel three years ago.
“We are using our waste vegetable oil from our fryers. We go through 80 litres a week.”
Jackson said they used to have people haul it away, but a few years ago he did some research on recycling it.
“The process is fairly simple. There’s a couple of ways to do it. I did the single-tank option, I blend it.”
After doing some work on his 20-year-old Mercedes Benz with the help of Edward Beggs in Gardom Lake, Jackson now takes the fryer oil home at the end of the week instead of going to the gas pumps.
“All I do is mix 20 per cent diesel and 80 per cent waste vegetable oil and filter it and put it right into the vehicle. It’s trans fat free oil, we were one of the first restaurant chains to get on that. It’s pure canola.”
Jackson said although it is nice to save money, the decision to refit the gas tank was first and foremost about the environment.
“That was more the consideration,” says Jackson, since putting that volume of oil in the landfill would be considerable.
Jackson and his wife, Janice, try to recycle whenever they can. Jackson mentions they were saving food scraps for a farmer who doesn't need them anymore.
“I’d like to find someone with some pigs,” he says. He doesn’t like putting in the landfill what is usable for someone else.
He laughs as he mentions the one side effect of reusing the frying oil. When he drives down the highway, the exhaust smells like fish and chips.
