According to a March 2012 story on CNBC.com, “… thefts of used cooking oil are on the rise across the country—driven by the rising price of oil that makes biofuels more cost competitive with fossil fuels.”
Current high prices for used cooking oil, just like copper wire from abandoned or foreclosed homes, can attract opportunistic scofflaws.
Frontline International, one of this year’s winners of the National Restaurant Association’s 2012 Kitchen Innovations Award, offers a simple solution to foil would-be “oil rustlers” and protect restaurateurs’ profits on the sale of used cooking oil.
If waste oil is stored in an unguarded bin outside a restaurant, it can become an easy target for this decade’s crime of opportunity.
Even the more sophisticated sealed indoor and outdoor tanks pose a risk if the valve used by legitimate oil collectors to pump waste oil from the restaurant remains unlocked between pick-ups. Thieves can easily access these unlocked valves and draw “liquid gold” from the establishment.
Frontline solves this waste oil crime for its customers before it can happen. Frontline collection ports feature an integrated anti-theft valve that makes it impossible for thieves to drain out the stored oil.
Tanks stored outside a foodservice establishment have the protected valve integral to their assembly and, when tanks are stored inside the facility, the valve on the building’s exterior is the same anti-theft valve.
The authorized oil-collection truck simply pulls up to the building and hooks up a drainage hose from the truck to the collection port. The anti-theft valve can then be opened remotely by either logging into Frontline’s Web-based M3 Data Management System or by entering a password on a control panel on the tank itself.
When the tank is empty, the valve is relocked. As a measure of comfort that the integrity of the system is supported, store personnel can log in and certify online anytime that the collection port is closed and locked.
Preventing waste oil theft is not just good for the bottom line, but better for the environment by ensuring that oil is in the hands of responsible processors. Frontline’s waste oil containment tanks are part of the company’s Smart Oil Management system.
